Integrity First: Voluntary Performance Reporting in a Goal-Oriented Regulatory Environment Available to Purchase

In 2007, the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association (CEPA) published a report titled; ‘Integrity First’. This document strives to achieve two goals: 1. For the pipeline industry to communicate performance with its stakeholders and regulators in the areas of pipeline integrity, health & safety and environmental performance. 2. To define performance success quantitatively with appropriate metrics and statistics. This IPC paper will focus on discussing the second goal — most specifically on how voluntary reporting of performance metrics is a necessity in an era of goal-based regulations. For a regulatory agency to effectively manage its dual responsibility to protect the public while facilitating efficient energy transportation, it can be argued that goal-based regulations allow for the best compromise to satisfy both responsibilities. In theory, such regulations ‘set the bar’ at a level that is acceptable to society and it is up to the pipeline company(ies) to determine the most sensible method to achieve the intended goals. Arguably, the pipeline company is in the best position to make decisions on how to safely operate the pipeline with the least amount of risk to workers, the public and the environment while assuring financially viable operations. However, there must be some mechanism to transparently demonstrate to the regulator (and ultimately the public) that the company is meeting the intent of the regulations and not allowing conflicting interests to supersede safety, reliability and environmental responsibilities.