OTTAWA, June 20 (Reuters) - Tighter environmental rules for
Canadian natural resource projects could start coming into force
in 2017, ahead of schedule, an official said on Monday, giving
industry an idea of when to expect the new measures.
The Liberals of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took power
last November promising to toughen up a range of regulations
they said the previous Conservative government had weakened in a
bid to cut the time needed to approve pipelines and mines.
Government officials said in January they hoped to have a
review of the required changes at the start of 2018.
"Some changes may be able to be made sooner ... we'll be
moving forward as quickly as possible," Environment Minister
Catherine McKenna told a briefing to outline how the government
would examine what reforms were needed.
A specialist panel will consult Canadians on how to tighten
environmental assessment rules to ensure projects are more
sustainable. It will report back by the end of January 2017.
That is also the deadline for a separate panel to report on
how to change the structure, role and mandate of the National
Energy Board regulator, which rules on whether projects can go
ahead. Critics say the body is not tough enough on the industry
and does not adequately consult indigenous communities.
In January, the government announced new interim rules that
will impose delays on two projects - TransCanada Corp 's TRP.TO
Energy East pipeline and Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) Inc's KMI.N expansion
of its Trans Mountain Pipeline.