Compliance, Not Enforcement: A Comparative Evaluation of Best Practice Regulation for Hydraulic Fracturing
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2015-09
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Abstract
The following study seeks to define and identify regulatory excellence for
hydraulic fracturing with a focus on issues of compliance and enforcement. The
inspiration for this investigation developed as a result of intense criticism and scrutiny of
oil and gas regulators and their enforcement practices, both in Alberta, and throughout
North America. These critiques have appeared predominantly in news media, as well as
independent studies produced by think tanks and environmental advocacy
organizations. The overwhelming consensus is that regulatory compliance, and any
subsequent enforcement, is critically low. Regulatory agencies, it is said, are therefore
failing in their mandates to adequately protect the environment and the public from
hydraulic fracturing’s numerous associated environmental and human health risks. I
wanted to find out for myself, through a critical, comprehensive evaluation, to what
extent these allegations might be true. My findings reveal that while they certainly
contain some merit, and do offer some worthwhile contributions on how compliance
and enforcement may be improved, the overall analyses are constrained through an
inadequate understanding of the intricacies of modern environmental regulation.
I begin my study by outlining the numerous informational gaps and inherent
controversies associated with the hydraulic fracturing debate, as well as providing both
an environmental and an economic justification for strong regulatory oversight,
including enforcement. By incorporating the University of Pennsylvania Law School’s
recent Best In Class Regulator Initiative, I establish a comprehensive framework for
assessing regulatory excellence. This framework includes key areas such as a regulator’s
level of general expertise and its organizational structure, as well as notions of
transparency, approaches to risk management, and the degree to which it promotes
flexibility and adaptability to changing circumstances.
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Citation
Wilson, Steven. (2015). Compliance, Not Enforcement: A Comparative Evaluation of Best Practice Regulation for Hydraulic Fracturing ( Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.