1993 Legislative Session: 2nd Session, 35th Parliament
FIRST READING


The following electronic version is for informational purposes only.
The printed version remains the official version.


HONOURABLE ANNE EDWARDS
MINISTER OF ENERGY, MINES AND
PETROLEUM RESOURCES

BILL 28 -- 1993

ENERGY, MINES AND PETROLEUM RESOURCES STATUTES AMENDMENT ACT, 1993

HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

 
Coal Act

1 Section 1 of the Coal Act, R.S.B.C. 1979, c. 51, is amended

(a) in the definition of "block" by striking out "defined in" and substituting "defined under",

(b) by repealing the definition of "grid area", and

(c) in the definition of "unit" by striking out "defined in" and substituting "defined under".

2 Section 13 is amended

(a) in subsection (1) by striking out "in a grid area", and

(b) in subsection (3) (a) by striking out "within a grid area".

3 Section 23 (1) is amended by striking out ", where the licence locations are within a grid area,".

 
Energy Efficiency Act

4 Section 1 of the Energy Efficiency Act, S.B.C. 1990, c. 40, is repealed and the following substituted:

Interpretation

1 In this Act "energy device" means a prescribed product that uses energy or controls or affects the use of energy.

5 Sections 2, 3 and 6 are amended by striking out "energy using device" wherever it appears and substituting "energy device".

6 Section 6 (1) is amended

(a) by repealing paragraph (a) and substituting the following:

(a) prescribing as an energy device any appliance, electric motor, electrical apparatus or manufactured building component or any product that controls or affects the use of energy, , and

(b) by adding the following paragraph:

(h.1) providing for information to be reported by persons who manufacture energy devices for sale in British Columbia in respect of the energy consumption or efficiency of all energy devices to which this Act applies, .

 
Geothermal Resources Act

7 Section 1 of the Geothermal Resources Act, S.B.C. 1982, c. 14, is amended

(a) in the definition of "block" by striking out "in section 140 (3) of" and substituting "defined under", and

(b) in the definition of "unit" by striking out "meaning as in" and substituting "meaning as defined under".

 
Hydro and Power Authority Privatization Act

8 Section 33 (1) of the Hydro and Power Authority Privatization Act, S.B.C. 1988, c. 39, is amended

(a) by striking out "and" at the end of paragraph (c) and by adding the following paragraph:

(c.1) where

(i) the Lieutenant Governor in Council is satisfied that a company as defined in the Company Act intends to acquire or has acquired, as part of an arrangement referred to in section 276 (1) of that Act, more than 50% of the voting shares of a special company, and

(ii) that first mentioned company requests that it be designated under this paragraph,

designating that first mentioned company as a special company, and , and

(b) in paragraph (d) by striking out "(b) or (c)," wherever it appears and substituting "(b), (c) or (c.1),".

9 Section 38 (3) is amended by striking out "a designation" and substituting "not more than 2 designations".

 
Petroleum and Natural Gas Act

10 Section 1 of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Act, R.S.B.C. 1979, c. 323, is amended by repealing the definitions of "block", "grid area", "Peace River Block" and "unit".

11 Section 33.1 is amended by adding the following subsection:

(5) The commissioner may designate an employee of the ministry to act on behalf of the commissioner for the purposes of subsections (1) and (2).

12 Section 36 is amended by striking out "and" at the end of paragraph (a), by adding "; and" at the end of paragraph (b) and by adding the following paragraph:

(c) prescribing fees for an application for approval to undertake geophysical exploration.

13 Section 37 is amended by striking out "a grid area or a block or blocks in the same or adjoining grid areas that, combined, form an area having 4 sides," and substituting "a block,".

14 Section 49 (1) is amended by striking out "5 grids in area" and substituting "30 blocks in area".

15 Section 74 (1) is amended by striking out "an area included in Schedule 1 to this Act" and substituting "a prescribed area,".

16 Section 80 (1) is amended by striking out "lease location, unless the holder of the lease has commenced drilling a well and has diligently and continuously prosecuted drilling operations in the location of the lease, in which case the penalty is not payable for the year in which the drilling operations were conducted and for any subsequent year." and substituting "lease location."

17 Section 83 (1) (c) (ii) is amended by striking out "any 4 grid blocks as shown in the diagram accompanying section 140." and substituting "any 4 blocks."

18 Section 93.3 is amended by striking out "royalities" and substituting "royalties".

19 Section 127 is amended by striking out "specified, but in no event shall the production continue for more than 90 days." and substituting "specified."

20 Section 132 is repealed and the following substituted:

Notification of work

132 A person must not commence geological or geophysical work until the person has notified the commissioner, or an employee of the ministry designated by the commissioner for that purpose, of his or her intention to do so.

21 Section 140 (1) to (5) is repealed.

22 Section 141 (2) is amended by adding the following paragraphs:

(k) make regulations defining, for the purpose of this Act or the regulations, any word or expression not defined in this Act;

(l) make regulations defining or describing the Peace River Block;

(m) make regulations defining the petroleum and natural gas grid by means of a set of universal transverse mercator map projection coordinates;

(n) for the purpose of section 74 (1), prescribe an area;

(o) make regulations to extend the term and cancel the rental and work requirements for a permit, drilling licence or lease, or a portion of a permit, drilling licence or lease, if the holder of the location is prevented from doing work during a Provincial land use study, evaluation or planning process.

23 Schedule 1 is repealed.

 
Utilities Commission Act

24 Section 133 (2) of the Utilities Commission Act, S.B.C. 1980, c. 60, is repealed.

25 The following section is added:

Participant costs

133.1 (1) The commission may order a participant in a proceeding before the commission to pay all or part of the costs of another participant in the proceeding.

(2) If the commission considers it to be in the public interest, the commission may pay all or part of the costs of participants in proceedings before the commission that were commenced on or after April 1, 1993 or that are commenced after the coming into force of this subsection.

(3) Amounts paid for costs under subsection (2) must not exceed the limits prescribed for the purposes of this section.

Commencement

26 Sections 1 to 7 and 10 to 24 come into force by regulation of the Lieutenant Governor in Council.

 
Explanatory Notes

 
Coal Act

SECTION 1: is consequential to the repeal of definitions under section 1 of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Act.

SECTIONS 2 and 3: are consequential to the repeal of the definition of "grid area" under section 1 of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Act.

 
Energy Efficiency Act

SECTION 4: amends the definition in section 1 of the Energy Efficiency Act to include both energy using devices and devices that control or affect the consumption of energy such as windows and shower heads.

SECTION 5: is consequential to the amendment made to section 1 of the Energy Efficiency Act.

SECTION 6: amends section 6 (1) of the Energy Efficiency Act to

(a) allow the Lieutenant Governor in Council to prescribe as energy devices products that use energy, or that control or affect the consumption of energy, and

(b) empower the Lieutenant Governor in Council to make regulations requiring manufacturers to report information in respect of the energy consumption or efficiency of energy devices sold in British Columbia.

 
Geothermal Resources Act

SECTION 7: is consequential to the repeal of definitions under section 1 of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Act.

 
Hydro and Power Authority Privatization Act

SECTION 8: amends section 33 (1) of the Hydro and Power Authority Privatization Act to permit the designation as a special company under the Act of a company that intends to acquire or has acquired more than 50% of the voting shares in a previously designated special company.

SECTION 9: Section 38 of the Act restricts the number of voting shares that persons may hold in a special company, but allows a limited number of exemptions from that requirement, in relation to any special company. Section 9 of this Bill increases from one to 2 the number of such exemptions that may be made when a person acquires or will acquire shares in a special company as a result of an arrangement referred to in section 276 (1) of the Company Act.

 
Petroleum and Natural Gas Act

SECTION 10: repeals definitions that are no longer required or that will now be made by regulation.

SECTION 11: allows the commissioner to designate an employee of the ministry to act on behalf of the commissioner for the purposes of section 33.1 (1) and (2) of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Act.

SECTION 12: allows for the charging of application fees for approval to undertake geophysical exploration.

SECTION 13: reduces to one block the basic area for which a permit is issued at a location.

SECTION 14: is consequential to the repeal of the definition of "grid area".

SECTION 15: allows description of a location by regulation instead of in a Schedule to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Act.

SECTION 16: removes an existing waiver of penalty payments for the continuation of a lease beyond 10 years where a well has been drilled in the location of the lease during the continuation period.

SECTION 17: is consequential to the repeal of the definition of "grid area".

SECTION 18: Housekeeping.

SECTION 19: removes the 90 day time limit for production of petroleum or natural gas from some tenures.

SECTION 20: allows the commissioner to designate an employee of the ministry to act on behalf of the commissioner for the purposes of section 132 of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Act.

SECTION 21: is consequential to the adoption of a new Provincial survey and mapping standard.

SECTION 22: empowers the Lieutenant Governor in Council to

SECTION 23: is consequential to the amendment to section 74 (1) of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Act.

 
Utilities Commission Act

SECTION 24: repeals the provision preventing the Utilities Commission both from paying costs of participants in proceedings before the commission and from ordering that costs of a participant be paid by another participant.

SECTION 25: enacts a new section that allows the commission to order participants in proceedings before the commission to pay costs of other participants and gives the commission the discretion to itself pay participant costs. Participant costs paid by the commission must not exceed prescribed limits.


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