Today we released a new edition of Directive 023: Oil Sands Project Applications. It is effective immediately and replaces the May 2013 draft edition.
We also rescinded Directive 086: Reservoir Containment Application Requirements for Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage Projects in the Shallow Athabasca Oil Sands Area, whose requirements have been moved into section 6 of Directive 023. References to Directive 023 in Directive 008: Surface Casing Depth Requirements, Directive 056: Energy Development Applications and Schedules, and Manual 020: Coal Development have been updated.
Other primary changes that we made to Directive 023 are as follows:
- removed requirements that exist in other directives or provincial legislation, including removing environmental requirements that were also found in the specified enactments
- aligned the socioeconomic requirements with the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act
- restructured the environmental and socioeconomic requirements based on the scale of the projects they apply to (e.g., small-scale in situ projects)
- added a section on in situ life-cycle applications
A draft of the directive was released on June 27, 2022, and public feedback was accepted through August 26, 2022 (see Bulletin 2022-22). A summary of the feedback, including our responses, is available on the directive’s webpage under the heading “Supplemental Information.” Also under that heading, you can find flowcharts on the process for Directive 023 applications and for environmental requirements, as well as links to webpages summarizing the in situ and mining application processes.
The revised edition of Directive 023 is available on our website at www.aer.ca > Regulating Development > Rules and Directives > Directives. If you have any questions, contact our Customer Contact Centre by phone at 1-855-297-8311 or by email at inquiries@aer.ca.
