Sask. government defends pipeline inspection record after oil spill

Saskatchewan's Ministry of the Economy is defending its record of pipeline inspections across the province.

Yesterday, Provincial Auditor Judy Ferguson spoke to the media about concerns her office has had with pipeline inspections in Saskatchewan.

The issue of pipeline regulation is front and centre in the province afterHusky Energyspilled more than 200,000 litres of oilinto the North Saskatchewan River.

In 2012, a report listed seven recommendations after it found flaws in the regulatory system. Along with making sure there are written policies for building and maintaining pipelines, the auditor recommended that pipeline operations should be monitored rather than allowing industryself-assessments.

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The Ministry of the Economy says it takes the auditor's report seriously, and has been working to make its pipeline regulations stronger.

"We pay very serious attention to any advice we receive from the auditor and do our best to attend to it expeditiously," said Deputy Minister Laurie Pushor. "In addition to that, we work very closely with our team, but so too with regulators across western Canada and in fact across the country."

Pushor admitted that the provincial government had not physically inspected the Husky Energy pipeline that had leaked into the North Saskatchewan, but had regularly reviewed pressure test results provided by the company. He said the Husky spill will definitely shape pipeline inspections into the future.

"Certainly, we will be paying very close attention to what happened here and how it may or may not affect that work," he said. "We've been working very diligently for many years to continue to strengthen and enhance our regulatory oversight."

Pushor said the ministry has made important changes in the last several years. For example, oversight of pipeline inspections has been moved out of the Ministry of the Economy's petroleum and natural gas division, to "give a clear focus on oversight." As well, he says an electronic database has made it much easier to track where spills are happening, and which companies are responsible.

"We put a significant amount of training in place, and of course our new information system is a key backbone for all of that work," he said. "It allows us to be much more efficient in collecting that information and evaluating what's happening, and allowing us to focus our regulatory oversight and monitoring."

The auditor's office will be issuing a review on pipeline regulation this fall.

"We will respect her ruling on whether we've completed our work to her satisfaction or have continued work to do at that point.