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The NDP government will review the “conflicting mandate” of the province’s oilpatch watchdog with a view to separating its responsibility to both promote and police energy development, says Premier Rachel Notley.

“One of the concerns that I have always had with the Alberta Energy Regulator is that it appears to have a conflicting mandate, in that it is both a promoter of energy and the primary vehicle of environmental protection in Alberta,” Notley said in an interview.

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“What’s troubling about the AER is it has actually taken over responsibility for most of the environmental protection and monitoring part and standards development within the energy sector. … You can’t do that job when your overarching mandate is to promote energy development.”

Notley said Friday she thinks those mandates have to be “split.”

The premier’s comments come as the new NDP government is in the midst of several major policy initiatives affecting the province’s energy sector, including a review of royalty rates, a new climate change strategy, higher corporate taxes and a promise to ban natural gas drilling in urban areas.

The Progressive Conservatives established the AER in December 2012 to provide one-stop shopping for regulatory approvals after industry complained about the delays and costs of red tape.