Move EUB to Edmonton by Stewart Shields, September 13, 2007, The Edmonton Journal
It is hard to maintain the EUB is not in the pocket of industry, when part of its yearly business is to collect funding for both the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) and the Small Explorers and Producers Association of Canada (SEPAC). Both of the aforementioned are industry advocates, and having the regulator collect their funding is successful no doubt, however, it smacks of inappropriateness. How this is in the public interest will need explaining. Also the direct payment of part of the EUB’s budget by industry should not be allowed under any circumstances. The industry is very much the EUB’s paymaster! Supervision of the EUB has been lacking by government energy ministers, as events in the recent past plainly points out. … The EUB set up “synergy groups” throughout the province. This caused some to note the duty of industry regulation had fallen to the general public! These “company owned” community groups prevented the EUB from being properly staffed in field locations. A cursory review of the Caroline cover-up of March 12, 2003, will indicate the danger these company owned groups pose to the public!