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Section III – Supplementary Information

3.1 Organizational Information*

The Agency has been designated as a department for the purposes of the Financial Administration Act.  The Agency currently reports to Parliament through the Minister of Natural Resources Canada who is responsible for the management and direction of the Agency.  The Agency has one senior officer, a Commissioner appointed by the Governor in Council.  The Commissioner is currently the Deputy Minister of Natural Resources Canada.  Its organizational structure is defined by the Act.  The Commissioner has appointed a full-time Assistant Commissioner of the Agency.

The figure below provides a schematic of the reporting relationship of the key officers responsible for the Agency's program activity.

Organizational Information

3.2 Legislation Administered by the Agency

 

The Minister has sole responsibility to Parliament for the following act:

Northern Pipeline Act                                                                 (R.S.C., 1977-78,c.20,s.1)

The Minister shares responsibility to Parliament for the following regulations:

National Energy Board Cost Recovery

Regulations           (SOR/91-7, 1991 Canada Gazette Part II, p.15)

3.3 Other Items of Interest

United States/Alaska Initiatives

Interest in the Alaska pipeline was revived in the early 2000's by the ongoing strengthening in natural gas markets.  An important development was the passage of U.S. federal legislation in 2004 which provided loan guarantees, fiscal lift and established time lines for regulatory approval processes for a project bringing Alaska natural gas to markets.  The February 2006 announcement of a draft fiscal contract between the former Alaska Administration and the North Slope natural gas producers (British Petroleum, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips) further intensified interest in the project.  However, the draft natural gas fiscal contract did not receive Alaskan Legislative support and ultimately failed. 

The former Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin, made an Alaska natural gas pipeline a priority for her government.  Ms. Palin introduced new legislation, the Alaska Gas Inducement Act, on March 2, 2007.  This new act is designed to induce construction of the pipeline and offer a transparent, expedient and competitive process to strike the right balance for the State, project proponents, gas producers and the U.S.  In August 2008, the Alaska government selected TransCanada/Foothills for a licence under Alaska Gas Inducement Act.  The State of Alaska will provide TransCanada up to $500M towards the planning for a pipeline.