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Canadian Energy Regulator Act (S.C. 2019, c. 28, s. 10)

Act current to 2024-03-06 and last amended on 2022-06-23. Previous Versions

PART 3Pipelines (continued)

Determination of Detailed Route and Approval (continued)

Marginal note:Conditions

 In any approval referred to in section 203, the Commission may impose any conditions that it considers appropriate.

Marginal note:Notice of decision

 If the Commission has held a public hearing under subsection 202(4) in respect of any section or part of a pipeline and approved or refused to approve a plan, profile and book of reference respecting that section or part, it must, without delay, forward a copy of its decision and the reasons for it to each person who made representations to the Commission at the public hearing.

Marginal note:Costs of making representations

 The Commission may, by order, fix an amount that it considers reasonable in respect of the interim or final costs that are incurred by any person who made or will make representations to the Commission at a public hearing under subsection 202(4) and that amount is payable, on an interim or final basis and without delay, to that person by the company whose pipeline route is the subject of the public hearing.

Marginal note:For greater certainty

 For greater certainty, the issuance of a certificate or the approval of a plan, profile and book of reference does not relieve the company from otherwise complying with this Act.

Errors

Marginal note:Application for correction of errors

  •  (1) If any omission, misstatement or error is made in a registered plan, profile or book of reference, the company must submit an application to the Regulator for a permit to correct the omission, misstatement or error.

  • Marginal note:How corrected

    (2) The Commission may in its discretion issue a permit setting out the nature of the omission, misstatement or error and the correction allowed.

  • Marginal note:Registration

    (3) On the deposit of copies of the permit issued under subsection (2), certified by the Regulator, in the land registry office or other office where title to land is recorded for the area in which the lands affected are situated, the plan, profile or book of reference must be considered to be corrected in accordance with the permit, and the company may, subject to the other provisions of this Act, construct the pipeline in accordance with the correction.

Marginal note:Error as to names

 A pipeline may be made, carried or placed across, on or under lands on the detailed route, even if, through error or any other cause, the name of the owner or holder of an interest or right in the lands has not been entered in the book of reference, or some other person is erroneously mentioned as the owner or holder of an interest or right in the lands.

Duties of Land Registrar

Marginal note:Registration of plans, etc.

  •  (1) Every land registrar must receive and preserve in their office the plans, profiles, books of reference, certified copies and other documents required by this Act to be deposited with the registrar, and must endorse them with the day, hour and minute when they were deposited.

  • Marginal note:Copies

    (2) Any person may inspect the documents preserved under subsection (1) and may make extracts and copies of them.

  • Marginal note:Certified copies

    (3) A land registrar must, at the request of any person, certify copies of any document or portion of a document preserved under subsection (1), on being paid at a rate that is reasonable and customary in similar cases.

  • Marginal note:Certification

    (4) The certification of the land registrar must set out that the document was deposited in the registrar’s office, and must state the time when it was deposited.

  • Marginal note:Evidence

    (5) A certified copy referred to in subsection (4) is evidence of the original deposited and is evidence that the original was deposited at the time stated and certified, and that it was signed, certified, attested or otherwise executed by the persons by whom and in the manner in which the original purports to be signed, certified, attested or executed, as shown or appearing by the certified copy, and, in the case of a plan, that the plan is prepared according to a scale and in a manner and form sanctioned by the Commission.

Deviations and Relocations

Marginal note:Approval of deviations

  •  (1) If a deviation is required by a company to be made in a pipeline, or a part of a pipeline, that has been constructed or for which a detailed route has been approved, a plan, profile and book of reference of the part of the pipeline proposed to be changed, showing the deviation proposed to be made, must be submitted to the Regulator for the approval of the Commission.

  • Marginal note:Construction after approval

    (2) If the plan, profile and book of reference of the part of the pipeline proposed to be changed have been approved by the Commission, and copies have been deposited as provided in this Act with respect to the original plan, profile and book of reference, the company may make the deviation, and all the provisions of this Act are applicable to the part of the pipeline, as changed or proposed to be changed, in the same manner as they are applicable to the original pipeline.

  • Marginal note:Exemptions

    (3) The Commission may exempt a company from all or any of the provisions of this section if the deviation was made or is to be made for the purpose of benefiting a pipeline, or for any other public purpose, if it considers it appropriate to do so, but the deviation must not exceed the distance that is specified by the Commission from the centre line of the pipeline located or constructed in accordance with the plans, profiles and books of reference approved by the Commission under this Act.

Marginal note:Relocation

  •  (1) The Commission may, by order, on any conditions that it considers appropriate, direct a company to relocate its pipeline if the Commission considers that the relocation is necessary

    • (a) to ensure the safety of persons and the pipeline;

    • (b) to protect the environment;

    • (c) to facilitate the construction, reconstruction or relocation of a highway, a railway or any other work of public interest; or

    • (d) to prevent or remove an interference with a drainage system.

  • Marginal note:Costs of relocation

    (2) The Commission may, by order, direct by whom and to whom the costs of the relocation referred to in subsection (1) must be paid.

  • Marginal note:Procedures

    (3) The Commission must not direct a company to relocate any section or part of its pipeline unless the procedures set out in sections 201 to 205 have been complied with in respect of the section or part to be relocated.

  • Marginal note:Order

    (4) For the purposes of ensuring that the procedures set out in sections 201 to 205 are complied with, the Commission may order the company to carry out the procedures that the company would have been required to carry out if the company had submitted to the Regulator a plan, profile and book of reference under subsection 199(1) and those sections apply, with any modifications that the circumstances require, in respect of any matter related to the carrying out of those procedures.

  • Marginal note:Costs of making representations

    (5) The Commission may, by order,

    • (a) fix an amount that it considers reasonable in respect of the interim or final costs incurred by any person who made or will make representations to the Commission under this section; and

    • (b) direct by whom and to whom the amount is to be paid.

Leave to Open Pipelines

Marginal note:Leave required

  •  (1) A pipeline or section of a pipeline must not be opened for the transmission of hydrocarbons or any other commodity by a company unless an order granting it leave to do so has been made by the Commission.

  • Marginal note:Grant of leave

    (2) Leave may be granted by the Commission under this section only if it is satisfied that the pipeline may safely be opened for transmission.

Exemptions

Marginal note:Orders

  •  (1) The Commission may, by order, exempt from the application of any or all of the provisions of section 179, subsection 180(1) and sections 182, 198, 199 and 213

    • (a) pipelines or branches of or extensions to pipelines, of not more than 40 kilometres in length;

    • (b) pipelines that have already been constructed; and

    • (c) any tanks, reservoirs, storage or loading facilities, pumps, racks, compressors, interstation communication systems, real or personal property, or immovable or movable, and any connected works.

  • Marginal note:Conditions

    (2) In any order made under subsection (1), the Commission may impose any conditions that it considers appropriate.

  • Marginal note:Time limit

    (3) If an application for an order under subsection (1) is made, the Commission must, within the time limit specified by the Lead Commissioner, either make an order under that subsection or dismiss the application.

  • Marginal note:Maximum time limit

    (4) The time limit specified by the Lead Commissioner must be no longer than 300 days after the day on which the applicant has, in the Commission’s opinion, provided a complete application.

  • Marginal note:Excluded period

    (5) In the circumstances prescribed by regulations made under section 216, the Lead Commissioner may specify that a period is to be excluded from the calculation of the time limit. The Lead Commissioner must provide reasons for doing so.

  • Marginal note:Extension

    (6) The Minister may, by order, grant one or more extensions of the time limit specified under subsection (3).

  • Marginal note:Publication

    (7) The Commission must make public the time limit specified under subsection (3), any period that is excluded under subsection (5), the reasons for the exclusion and any extension of time granted under subsection (6).

  • Marginal note:Application related to application for certificate

    (8) Despite subsections (3) to (6), if the Lead Commissioner considers that an application for an exemption is related to an application for a certificate in respect of a pipeline, the time limit within which to make an order under subsection (1) or to dismiss the application for an exemption expires on the day on which the certificate is issued or the application for the certificate is dismissed.

  • Marginal note:Continuation of jurisdiction and obligation

    (9) A failure by the Commission to make an order under subsection (1) or dismiss the application within the required time limit does not affect its jurisdiction to deal with the application or its obligation to make the order or to dismiss the application, and anything done by it in relation to the application remains valid.

Marginal note:Impact Assessment Act

 If the application for an exemption relates to a designated project, as defined in section 2 of the Impact Assessment Act, that is subject to an impact assessment under that Act,

  • (a) the time limit within which the Commission must make an order under subsection 214(1) or dismiss the application is seven days after the day on which the decision statement with respect to the designated project is posted on the Internet under section 66 of that Act; and

  • (b) subsections 214(3) to (8) do not apply.

Regulations Concerning Time Limits

Marginal note:Power of the Regulator

 The Regulator may make regulations prescribing, for the purposes of subsection 183(5) or 214(5), the circumstances in which periods may be excluded from the calculation of the time limit.

Construction Despite Presence of Utilities or Navigable Waters

Marginal note:Construction — utility

  •  (1) A company must not construct a pipeline that passes on, over, along or under a utility unless a certificate has been issued, or an order has been made under section 214, in respect of the pipeline, and

    • (a) the certificate or order contains a condition relating to that utility;

    • (b) the company has been granted leave under subsection (2); or

    • (c) the company is constructing the pipeline in circumstances specified in an order or regulation made under subsection (4).

  • Marginal note:Authority to grant leave

    (2) The Commission may, by order, on application, grant a company leave to construct a pipeline that passes on, over, along or under a utility. It may require from the applicant any plans, profiles and other information that it considers necessary to deal with the application.

  • Marginal note:Conditions

    (3) The leave may be granted in whole or in part and be subject to any conditions that the Commission considers appropriate.

  • Marginal note:Circumstances

    (4) The Regulator may specify circumstances for the purposes of paragraph (1)(c) by regulation, and the Commission may do so by order.

  • Marginal note:Leave in emergency cases

    (5) The Commission may grant leave under subsection (2) after construction of the work has commenced if it is satisfied that the work was urgently required and, before the commencement of construction, it was notified of the company’s intention to proceed with the work.

  • Marginal note:Definition of utility

    (6) In this section, utility means a highway, an irrigation ditch, a publicly owned or operated drainage system, sewer or dike, an underground telecommunications line or a line for the transmission of hydrocarbons, electricity or any other substance.

Marginal note:Construction or operation — navigable water

 A person must not construct or operate a pipeline that passes in, on, over, under, through or across a navigable water unless a certificate has been issued, or an order has been made under section 214, in respect of the pipeline.

Marginal note:Effects of recommendation on navigation

  •  (1) In making its recommendation in a report prepared under section 183, the Commission must also take into account the effects that the issuance of a certificate in respect of a pipeline that passes in, on, over, under, through or across a navigable water might have on navigation, including on the safety of navigation.

  • Marginal note:Effects of decision on navigation

    (2) When deciding whether to make an order, give a direction or grant a leave, approval or exemption in respect of a pipeline that passes in, on, over, under, through or across a navigable water, the Commission must take into account the effects that its decision might have on navigation, including on the safety of navigation, in addition to any other factor that it considers appropriate.

Marginal note:Pipeline not work

 Despite the definition work in section 2 of the Canadian Navigable Waters Act, a pipeline is not a work to which that Act applies.

Marginal note:Regulations

  •  (1) The Governor in Council may, for purposes related to navigation, on the joint recommendation of the Minister and the Minister of Transport, make regulations respecting sections or parts of pipelines that pass in, on, over, under, through or across a navigable water, including regulations respecting

    • (a) their design, construction or operation;

    • (b) the making of deviations to them;

    • (c) their relocation;

    • (d) the safety and security of their operation; and

    • (e) their abandonment.

  • Marginal note:Offence

    (2) Every person who contravenes a regulation made under subsection (1) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

  • Marginal note:Application of subsections 379(2) to (6)

    (3) Subsections 379(2) to (6) apply, with any modifications that the circumstances require, in respect of an offence under this section.

 

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