Author: Drew Yewchuk Page 7 of 20

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.

Regulatory Bulletin Commented On: AER Bulletin 2024-11: Conditional Adjustment of Reclamation Liability (CARL) Program and New Edition of Directive 088 and Manual 023

PDF Version: Waiting for a Credible Cost Estimate of Oil and Gas Liabilities and the Problem with CARL

This post describes and assesses the Conditional Adjustment of Reclamation Liability (CARL) Program announced by the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) in April 2024 and discusses a central question about Alberta’s conventional oil and gas closure liabilities: the absence of a credible official cost estimate. “Conventional oil and gas” in this context means wells, pipelines, and facilities, but excludes Large Facilities and oilsands mines, which have separate regulatory systems.

Albertan Waits: One Thousand and Three Hundred Delays

By Drew Yewchuk

On April 24, 2024

In Access to Information, Privacy

By: Drew Yewchuk

Case Commented on: Alberta Energy v Alberta (IPC), 2024 ABKB 198 (CanLII)

PDF Version: Albertan Waits: One Thousand and Three Hundred Delays

Alberta Energy v Alberta (IPC), 2024 ABKB 198 (CanLII) is another decision relating to attempts to use the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, RSA 2000, c F-25 (FOIP) to obtain records from Alberta Energy about their May 2020 decision to rescind the Coal Development Policy for Alberta (1976). Nigel Bankes described the initial rescission of the policy here and the reinstatement in February 2021 here.

The circumstances in Alberta Energy v Alberta (IPC) are an outrageous example of how Alberta’s elected officials exploit weaknesses in FOIP to conceal how government decision-making works to keep Albertans misinformed or disinformed.

Alphabow’s Regulatory Appeal: The AER Hearing Panel Misunderstood Their Job

By Drew Yewchuk

On March 11, 2024

In Administrative Law, Appellate Practice, Energy, Oil & Gas

By: Drew Yewchuk

Decision Commented on: Alphabow Energy Ltd: Regulatory Appeals of AER Orders (Regulatory Appeals 1943516 and 1943521), 2024 ABAER 001 (Alphabow)

PDF Version: Alphabow’s Regulatory Appeal: The AER Hearing Panel Misunderstood Their Job

This is a comment on an Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) hearing panel decision following a regulatory appeal of enforcement action against a company that was failing to meet the AER’s expectations for regulatory compliance.

Because of an administrative law mistake by the AER hearing panel, the decision is not what it should be. The AER’s handling of financially troubled corporations with large closure liabilities, significant unpaid debts, compliance troubles, and financial problems is a multi-billion dollar policy problem for Alberta. The decision should have assessed the AER’s policy approach to one of these companies, but the hearing panel misunderstood their role and assessed only procedural fairness and ‘reasonableness’ in the restricted sense that word applies on judicial review. As a result, the decision is less interesting than it should be, since it only finds that what the AER did was legal and says nothing about whether it was good policy or in the public interest.

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

By Drew Yewchuk

On February 19, 2024

In Protection of Species

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.

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

By Drew Yewchuk

On January 17, 2024

In Privacy

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.

Author: Drew Yewchuk Page 7 of 20

Waiting for a Credible Cost Estimate of Oil and Gas Closure Liabilities and the Problem with CARL

Albertan Waits: One Thousand and Three Hundred Delays

Alphabow’s Regulatory Appeal: The AER Hearing Panel Misunderstood Their Job

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

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