Safety & Enforcement
When Fire and Flood Strike
The AER and industry must be prepared to respond when Mother Nature tu…
The AER keeps a close eye on Alberta’s energy industry—comes with the job. We must also keep an eye on the weather, as Mother Nature can play havoc with oil and gas infrastructure and it’s not a… Read more
Incident Response—When Prevention Becomes Interven…
The AER must act quickly when crisis strikes
It’s a reality in the oilpatch: incidents happen. Pipeline breaches, well blowouts, sour gas releases, explosions, and other events can—and do—occur anywhere oil and gas activities happen, including… Read more
Seeing Infrared
FLIR cameras make invisible gas leaks visible
FLIR GasFindIR infrared cameras, which use thermal technology to trace and visualize volatile gases, have been used by the AER since 2007 to help detect oil and gas field fugitive emissions. FLIR… Read more
Elevating Geological Monitoring to New Heights
Elevating Geological Monitoring to New Heights
Living in Canada’s Rocky Mountains can be idyllic; on occasion, it can also prove perilous. The coal-mining town of Frank, in Alberta’s Crowsnest Pass, can attest to this. On April 29, 1903, it took… Read more
Why the Earth Moves in Fox Creek
The AER is studying how oil and gas activity triggers seismic activity
Residents of Fox Creek felt the ground tremble on January 12, 2016. The reason: a 4.8 magnitude (ML) earthquake just 35 km from the northern Alberta town. The quake was the fourth over 4 ML to shake… Read more
Sniffing Out Sour Gas
Air monitoring units detect and measure harmful gases
Regulating energy operations isn’t limited to what’s going on above and below ground – it also applies to the air we breathe. The AER’s two air-monitoring units (AMUs), which measure gas… Read more
Dispatches from the Fort McMurray Wildfires: “In T…
Jeff Hughes, a regional coordinator with the AER in the Fort McMurray Field Office, talks about his experience as fires ravaged the city in May, and how the AER is getting back to business in the… Read more
What the AER Doesn’t Regulate
Knowing what we don’t regulate is just as important as knowing what we do. The Government of Alberta has given us the job of ensuring oil and gas is developed safely for people and the environment,… Read more
Dispatches from the Fort McMurray Wildfires: “You…
The AER is accustomed to responding to emergencies such as well blowouts and pipeline spills. But sometimes we’re called upon to intervene during natural disasters, as was the case with the recent… Read more
Incident Command On Wheels
When a large pipeline has a spill or major well blowout strikes, Alberta needs on-the-go response tools. The AER’s mobile incident command (MIC) trailer is one of the tools we use to ensure energy… Read more
