The head of the board at the Alberta Energy Regulator is leaving the position in September.
David Goldie feels it's a good time to seek new challenges as he nears five years at the watchdog group.
Goldie became part of the AER in 2019 when the board was tasked with improving the organization’s governance and making it more efficient.
He is content with where the regulator stands now and believes it's moving in a positive direction.
The AER received criticism for how it informed the public and local First Nations about the release of millions of litres of oilsands wastewater from Imperial Oil’s Kearl mine in northern Alberta in 2022.
A report commissioned by the agency found that the regulator adhered to its rules, but those rules were considerably insufficient.
Following the release of that report in September, Goldie noted that the Kearl situation was unusual as it wasn’t an emergency like a sudden pipeline break, but rather a gradual seepage.
He pledged that the regulator would take a more proactive approach in the future to communicate with local residents.
He remarked, "The standard for reporting incidents needs to be raised. It's no longer enough to say the operator is accountable and assume they've fulfilled their duty."
"A wider variety of incidents need to be reported. It's no longer acceptable to simply say the operator is at fault and assume they've done their job."
