Environmental audit submissions, due dates, and planning
October 2025
The Environment Business Unit continues to process large volumes of environmental audit correction reports which are due annually at the end of August.
To support greater surface contract holder awareness, reduce administrative and financial burdens, and encourage environmental compliance on First Nation lands, Indian Oil and Gas Canada is directing surface contract holders to:
- Target compliance with correction reports
- Surface contract holders are required to make every reasonable effort to bring the site into compliance when submitting their environmental audit correction reports.
- For non-compliant environmental audits submitted in December, surface contract holders are required to bring the site into compliance and should not rely on IOGC non-compliance letters or communication.
- Continued non-compliance reporting or issues will be forwarded to our Compliance and Enforcement Business Unit.
- Submit on time to minimize overall costs and reporting burden
- Late submissions or environmental audit correction reports do not reset the environmental audit due date cycle.
- The environmental audit submission due date schedule is a contractual obligation in the surface contract.
- For example, if a 5-year environmental audit was due in 2020, but was submitted in 2021 and then a correction report was in August 2022, the next environmental audit will still be due in 2025.
- The environmental audit schedule is available on our webpage under Environmental requirements and updates, unless otherwise noted in the environmental terms and conditions section of the surface contract.
- Implement proactive environmental audit planning and December submissions
- Contract holders are strongly encouraged to plan their environmental audit work early in the snow-free field season to allow time for corrective measures to bring the site into compliance.
- Environmental audits are intentionally due in December to allow time for contract holders to take corrective measures and prepare the report.
- Contract holders can save time and resources and avoid compliance and enforcement actions by including documentation on how they brought non-compliant sites into compliance when making their environmental audits December submissions.