| Government Strategic Plan |
Ministry of Energy and Mines Service Plan Strategies |
| Government Strategy: Innovation and Economic
Growth |
| Work with the private sector to remove barriers to economic
activity. |
• The Ministry is stimulating and facilitating opportunities
in the energy and mining sectors; for example by identifying
and removing barriers such as lack of infrastructure and uncertainty
over resource ownership or access. |
| Implement a long-term economic development strategy for
all regions of the province. |
• The Ministry will assist the Ministry of Small Business
and Economic Development in the development and implementation
of the provincial economic strategy by developing measures
to improve the competitiveness of British Columbia's energy
and mining sectors and improve access to resources. |
| Optimize the wealth-generating capacity of the provincial
resource base. |
• The Ministry is a key revenue generator for the
province, contributing nearly half of the Treasury's direct
natural resource revenues.
• The Ministry's strategies are aimed at facilitating
growth in the sectors for which it is responsible.
|
| Increase mining exploration and development activity. |
• This is also a Ministry objective for which seven
strategies are outlined above (see Goal 1, Objective 1). |
| Conclude treaty and other economic-related agreements with
First Nations that promote investment certainty and increase
access to Crown land and resources. |
The Ministry will:
• Provide support to the Treaty Negotiation Office
(TNO) on all treaty-related issues pertaining to energy
and mineral resource management and governance.
• Assist TNO in addressing British Columbia Treaty
8 First Nation issues related to the oil and gas sector.
• Facilitate electricity, alternative energy, oil
and gas and mineral developments by establishing working
relationships and partnerships to enhance First Nation participation
in the energy and mining sectors.
|
| Expand partnerships with the federal government to promote
economic growth and development in British Columbia. |
The Ministry will:
• Engage federal and other governments in developing
harmonized regulatory regimes for the energy and mineral
sectors.
• Advance work with the federal government to return
the Dominion coal blocks to provincial ownership and thereby
enhance economic development prospects in the Crowsnest coalfield.
|
| Government Strategy: Management of Government |
| Promote and sustain a renewed professional public service. |
• The Ministry has a new human resources goal and
objective with related strategies in this year's Service Plan
(see Goal 3 above). The Ministry's strategies are to implement
Employee Performance and Development Plans for all employees
and update and implement a new Human Resources Plan consistent
with best practices and linked to the Corporate Human Resources
Plan. |
| All ministries will meet their budget and service plan targets. |
• A new system is being finalized to account for
the incremental revenue generated by the Ministry from its
various new oil and gas initiatives and projects.
• A new tracking system is being implemented to ensure
service plan targets are met.
|
| Continue to streamline government's legislation and regulation. |
• The Ministry is targeting a one-third reduction
in regulatory requirements by June 2004.
• An "Energy and Mines — Beyond the Count"
regulatory streamlining plan will be developed to achieve
further significant and meaningful reductions in regulatory
requirements.
|
| Promote new and more effective ways to deliver services
and infrastructure through alternative service delivery and
partnership arrangements. |
• The Ministry participates in a shared services model
for information technology, payroll, human resources and financial
systems. The Ministry ensures staff is trained in all aspects
of new shared service delivery models. |
| Expand public access to government through e-government
initiatives. |
• As described in the Information Resource Management
Plan in Appendix 2, the Ministry is developing Mineral Titles
Online and Petroleum Titles Online, and updating systems
to maintain its web-based public databases, e.g. MapPlace,
MinFile.
• The Ministry is participating in the Ministry of
Sustainable Resource Management's (MSRM) Integrated Land
and Resource Registry Project.
|
| Continue to expand one-stop permitting and licensing in
key sectors. |
• MEM is working to support the Oil and Gas Commission
to increase its efficiency and effectiveness during a time
of record-level applications and activity.
• The Mines Branch continues to enhance and streamline
its permitting and inspection functions.
|
| Reform the province's Crown corporations to focus on efficient
and effective service delivery. |
• The Ministry is working with the Crown Agencies
Secretariat on streamlining and governance improvements for
the Columbia Power Corporation, Columbia Basin Trust, Oil
and Gas Commission and BC Hydro. |
| Government Strategy: Sustainable Resource Development |
| Expedite economic development by increasing access to Crown
land and resources. |
• The Ministry is working with other Ministries to
ensure certainty of access for our clients to energy and
mineral resources, for example through the Conflicting Tenures
Project.
• The Ministry is participating in the process to
develop Pre-tenure Plans for the Muskwa Kechika Management
Area, which is being led by the Ministry of Sustainable
Resource Management. The Pre-tenure Plans will establish
where and under what conditions oil and gas companies can
explore for and develop Crown resources.
|
| Promote resource investment opportunities within and outside
of British Columbia. |
• An Investment Attraction Strategy is being developed
for the oil and gas, mining and electricity and alternative
energy sectors. |
| Develop market-based pricing regimes which include fair
value for the province's land and resources. |
• The Ministry has in place market-based pricing regimes
that ensure fair value for the province's resources for all
its resource revenue collection mechanisms. |
| Implement the government's energy policy to ensure secure
and reliable energy supplies, more investment opportunities
for the private sector and environmentally responsible energy
development and use. |
• The Ministry is implementing the Energy Plan and
developing a "report card" to track progress and recommend
improvements.
• New strategies are being implemented to promote
investment in British Columbia's electricity, energy efficiency
and alternative energy sectors. A baseline investment measure
will be developed to track an investment growth target of
10 per cent per year for each of the next three
years.
|
| Develop partnerships with industry and other stakeholders
to provide opportunities for more effective, efficient and
innovative management of Crown land and resources. |
• The Ministry is open to working with industry,
aboriginal and non-aboriginal communities on new models
for energy and mineral resource management.
The Ministry is leading the development of a Public Private
Partnership to maintain and upgrade the Sierra-Yoyo-Desan
Road, the primary access route into the richest area of
known oil and gas reserves in northeast British Columbia.
|
| Ensure that Crown land and resource decisions are informed
by First Nations. |
• The Ministry and the Oil and Gas Commission consult
with First Nations on all energy and mineral resource decisions
for which they are responsible. |
| Improve economic development opportunities for First Nations. |
• The Ministry works on a project-by-project basis
with industry proponents and First Nations communities to
improve the economic viability of energy and mining projects
and the communities' associated benefits. |
| Determine the future direction of offshore oil and gas development. |
• The Offshore Team is implementing its work plan
that includes defining potential offshore exploration areas,
establishing mechanisms to include First Nations and coastal
communities in offshore development plans and negotiating
a management regime with the federal government, First Nations
and tenure holders. |
| Implement new outcome-based legislation for mineral exploration
and forest practices. |
• The Ministry is implementing streamlined regulatory
requirements for low impact mineral exploration activities. |
| Government Strategy: Environmental Protection
and Safety |
| Implement made-in-British Columbia strategies to address
issues associated with greenhouse gases, climate change and
biodiversity. |
The Ministry will:
• Promote the Energy Plan goal of 50 per cent of
new electricity demand being supplied from clean sources
over the next ten years;
• Encourage investments in energy conservation and
efficiency through new electricity rate structures and other
regulatory amendments;
• Support an industry-led advisory group preparing
a strategy to ensure BC remains a leader in development
of hydrogen and fuel cell technology;
• Encourage conservation, energy efficiency and alternative
energy;
• The private sector and research community will
be enlisted to develop technology roadmaps for cleaner hydrocarbons,
waterpower, hydrogen and fuel cells, and bio-energy;
• Review energy efficiency standards for buildings
and equipment;
• Explore alternatives to diesel generators and fuel
oil use in BC's remote communities; and
• Work with the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection
on a provincial strategy to manage biodiversity.
|
| Implement the two-zone system for subsurface resource exploration
and development. |
• The Ministry continues to work with the Ministry
of Sustainable Resource Management in the implementation of
this system. |
| Implement a streamlined, science-based, results-oriented
regulatory approach to protect human health and the environment
and ensure effective enforcement. |
• In collaboration with stakeholders, the Ministry
has revised the "Health, Safety and Reclamation Code for Mines
in British Columbia" to make it results-based and streamlined.
The new Code is now being implemented. |
| Establish workable relationships with First Nation communities. |
• The Ministry is negotiating and implementing economic
measures and other agreements to assist First Nations' participation
in the energy and mining sectors in British Columbia. |
