On April 8, 2016, the Alberta Energy Regulator (“AER”) sent a sombre reminder to licensees and their directors and officers, of their corporate responsibilities when ceasing operations because of insolvency or for any other reason. Bulletin 2016-10 reinforced the need for compliance with all AER requirements when ceasing operations. Among several other ...
On April 4, 2016, the Government of Alberta (“GoA”) implemented its first formal consultation process between the government, project proponents, and Métis Settlements with the release of The Government of Alberta’s Guidelines on Consultation with Métis Settlements on Land and Natural Resource Management, 2016 (“Guidelines”) and The Government of ...
Late last week, the Government of Canada released a proposed methodology for estimating upstream GHG emissions from proposed oil and gas projects undergoing federal environmental assessment. This comes on the heels of the Government’s announcement in late January of its new guiding principles for project review, one of which included assessment of “direct and ...
On February 12, 2016, the Alberta Energy Regulator ("AER") overhauled its compliance and enforcement program with the release of the Integrated Compliance Assurance Framework ("ICAF") and Manual 013: Compliance and Enforcement Program ("Manual 013").The ICAF and Manual 013 supersede and replace Directive 019:Compliance Assurance ("Directive 019"). The AER ...
On January 14, the Supreme Court of British Columbia found that the Province had improperly abdicated its decision making authority with respect to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project by entering into an Equivalency Agreement with the federal government. Furthermore, the Court found that the Province had breached its duty to consult with First Nations by not ...
In a set of press releases issued today (here and here), the Government of Canada announced 5 principles that it says will guide its discretionary decision-making for projects being reviewed in environmental assessment, along with a set of interim measures it says will be implemented in two existing pipeline reviews.
While today’s announcements will likely have an ...
On November 4, 2015, the Yukon Court of Appeal released its decision in the Peel River case that we first reported on here. The decision focussed on whether the Yukon Government properly followed the land use planning process set out in three modern land claims agreements in the development of a land use plan for the Peel River region. The Court of Appeal largely agreed with the ...
On September 17, 2015, the Alberta Energy Regulator (the “AER”) released its draft Directive Fluid Tailings Management for Oil Sands Mining Projects (the “Draft Directive”). The Draft Directive establishes new requirements that operators must meet to manage tailings during and after mine operations, including application filing requirements, the review ...
On September 23, 2015, the Alberta Energy Regulator released Bulletin 2015-28: “Posting of Participation and Procedural Decisions” a significant change in the AER’s practice with respect to the publishing of its decisions. Until now, relatively few AER decisions were directly available on the AER’s website. To date, only five AER decisions from 2015 have been ...
The past week has seen three significant decisions relating to the manner in which the rates of public utilities are to be determined in Canada. Although one can argue about whether the decisions clarify and confirm existing law or create new law, no one can reasonably dispute that utilities face new challenges to establish rates that will allow them to recover all of their ...
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Lawson Lundell's Environmental, Indigenous and Natural Resources Blog focuses on environmental, indigenous and natural resources law, as well as related litigation. Included are summaries of significant cases from Canadian appellate courts, changes in the legal framework governing resource development including energy and climate change policy, and key decisions from the more influential regulatory bodies in Canada.
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