Author Archives: Drew Yewchuk

About Drew Yewchuk

B.A. (UAlberta) J.D. (UCalgary) LLM (U.B.C.) Drew was a full-time staff lawyer with the University of Calgary's Public Interest Law Clinic from 2018-2022. He is now an PhD student at the Peter A. Allard School of Law. His research focuses on administrative secrecy, access to information law, species at risk, resource law, and environmental liabilities.

Misunderstanding Cooperative Federalism: Environment and Climate Change Canada Unreasonably Failed to Protect Migratory Bird Habitat

By: Drew Yewchuk

Case Commented on: Western Canada Wilderness Committee v Canada (Environment and Climate Change), 2024 FC 167 (CanLII)

PDF Version: Misunderstanding Cooperative Federalism: Environment and Climate Change Canada Unreasonably Failed to Protect Migratory Bird Habitat

Western Canada Wilderness Committee v Canada (Environment and Climate Change), 2024 FC 167 (CanLII) is a recent decision of the Federal Court rejecting the federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change’s restrictive interpretation of migratory bird habitat under the Species at Risk Act, SC 2002, c 29 (SARA). The decision also offers some interesting notes about co-operative federalism in the environmental context. Continue reading →

Grading the AER Liability Management Performance Report

By: Shaun Fluker, Drew Yewchuk, and Martin Olszynski

Report Commented On: Liability Management Performance Report

PDF Version: Grading the AER Liability Management Performance Report

On January 17, 2024 the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) published a Liability Management Performance Report. This is the first published AER report to the public on progress being made by industry under the Liability Management Framework to reduce Alberta’s massive unfunded closure liability in the conventional (non-oil sands) oil and gas sector. The last comparable report from the AER on liability management was from September 2005. Somewhat predictably, in its news release, the AER reflected positively on industry’s performance and indicated that this will be an annual report with the objective of “. . . improving transparency of industry’s management of conventional oil and gas liabilities as well as to develop performance measure baselines and ongoing assessments of the industry as a whole and licensees specifically.” The response elsewhere was less enthusiastic. Some, like the Rural Municipalities of Alberta, reserved judgment pending further analysis; while others more critically noted that the Report curiously understates the overall liability amount, using a liability calculation method from 2015 that subsequent analysis by the AER revealed to be a vast under-estimation. The Report provides some aggregated data and licensee-specific information and accordingly gets partial marks for some transparency, but it absolutely fails to give the public adequate context to fully understand whether this should be read as good or poor performance by industry and says almost nothing at all about the AER’s performance. Secrecy and capture continue to govern liability management in Alberta.

Continue reading →

Information Shall be Released: The Long Wait for Access to Government Information in Alberta

By: Drew Yewchuk

Decision Commented on: University of Alberta (Re), 2023 CanLII 122872 (AB OIPC)

PDF Version: Information Shall be Released: The Long Wait for Access to Government Information in Alberta

This post is another installment in the Public Interest Law Clinic’s work on improving access to government information in Alberta. See previous posts here, here, here, and here.

Re University of Alberta, OIPC Order F2023-46 is a decision of an adjudicator at the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC), the administrative review body for Alberta’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, RSA 2000, c F-25 (FOIP). The decision draws out an important principle of access to government records: that no refusal of access ought to be permanent. Eventually, all government records should become public. This post provides the basics of when exceptions to disclosure expire and when a request can be usefully re-filed to obtain previously-redacted information. Continue reading →

Auditor General Updates Recommendations Unaddressed by the AER on the Effectiveness of Regulating Closure Liabilities in Conventional (Non-Oil Sands) Oil and Gas

By: Shaun Fluker, Drew Yewchuk, and Martin Olszynski

Report commented on: Report of the Auditor General – December 2023

PDF Version: Auditor General Updates Recommendations Unaddressed by the AER on the Effectiveness of Regulating Closure Liabilities in Conventional (Non-Oil Sands) Oil and Gas

Earlier this month, the Auditor General of Alberta filed a report under section 19 of the Auditor General Act, RSA 2000, c A-46, with the Legislative Assembly. The Report includes a summary of 113 recommendations the Auditor General has made to the government since November 2022, including those made by the Auditor General in March 2023, directing the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) to improve performance of the management and regulation of end-of-life oil and gas liabilities in the conventional (non-oil sands) sector. The December 2023 report indicates that none of the 9 recommendations made to the AER in March are ready for reassessment. In other words, the AER has not yet taken sufficient action. Continue reading →

Comments on the AER’s Draft Regulations for Rock-Hosted Mineral Mining

By: Drew Yewchuk

Regulatory Documents Commented on: AER Bulletin 2023-36: Invitation for Feedback on Proposed New Requirements for Rock-Hosted Mineral Resource Development; Draft Directive 0XX: Rock-Hosted Mineral Resource Development

PDF Version: Comments on the AER’s Draft Regulations for Rock-Hosted Mineral Mining

Despite the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER)’s poor reputation and history of scandals, the Alberta government expanded the role of the AER to include a broader role in regulating mining operations. In March 2023 changes to the Responsible Energy Development Act, SA 2012, c R-17.3 gave the AER new powers to regulate almost all types of mining under the Mineral Resource Development Act, SA 2021, c M-16.8. In my view, expanding the mandate and role of the AER is a mistake given their institutional failures and the public’s justified low confidence in the AER. Continue reading →