Author: Allan Ingelson

B.A. (Alberta), B.Sc., LL.B. (Calgary), LL.M. (Denver).
Associate Professor. Member of the Alberta Bar.
Executive Director of CIRL.
Please click here for more information.

By: Allan Ingelson

PDF Version: Wind Energy Development on Public Lands in Alberta: A Missed Opportunity

To date, most of the wind energy development in Alberta has been on private lands in the southern part of the province. As a result, private landowners and wind farm developers on private lands have reaped the financial benefits from electricity production. In 2010, we posed the following question: in light of the significant revenues secured by the Alberta government for decades from leasing public lands for hydrocarbon development, why has the provincial government not yet leased public lands for wind energy development? (Allan Ingelson & Ryan Kalt, Wind Farms on Alberta Crown Lands?, International Resources Industries & Sustainability Centre, University of Calgary, IRIS Executive Brief #10-02, March 17, 2010). Eight years later the Alberta Government has not yet adopted a wind energy rights disposition system to facilitate investment and the development of wind farms on public lands in the province. Unlike the governments of Ontario, B.C., Quebec, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and New Brunswick, the Government of Alberta has thus far missed out on the revenue-generating opportunity from leasing public lands to develop wind farms and generate electricity. Years ago, other provincial governments created and adopted wind energy lease systems for public lands, but Alberta has failed to do so and as a result wind farms are located on private lands.

Environment in the Courtroom – A Free Symposium on Environmental Inspections and Enforcement Actions: On-site and in Court, February 26 & 27, 2016

By Allan Ingelson

On February 2, 2016

In Conferences

By: Allan Ingelson

PDF Version: Environment in the Courtroom – A Free Symposium on Environmental Inspections and Enforcement Actions: On-site and in Court, February 26 & 27, 2016

This is the fifth national environmental law symposium funded by Environment Canada (now Environment & Climate Change Canada), organized by the Canadian Institute of Resources Law (CIRL) in the Faculty of Law at the University of Calgary, and its partners. During the last four years, practitioners, judges, and academics from across Canada have attended either in person or online and have contributed questions and comments to the discussion of current important environmental law issues. Last year we had 299 registrants from across Canada and in the United States. This year one presenter (Jonathan Leo) will discuss the American experience with environmental inspections and enforcement actions. Registrants can obtain the symposium program and papers in both official languages. Symposium presentations will be in either French or English, depending on the speaker, and will address civil and/or common law perspectives. Attendees at previous symposiums have reported that the information that has been provided is both practical and useful. We encourage active audience participation in the panel discussions. Last year the symposium was held in the Faculty of Law at the University of Calgary. This year the national symposium has been organized by CIRL, the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa, and the Ontario Bar Association.

University of Calgary is the Place to be for Environmental Law in 2015

By Allan Ingelson

On January 28, 2015

In Environmental

By: Martin Olszynski, Scott Allen and Allan Ingelson

PDF Version: University of Calgary is the Place to be for Environmental Law in 2015

Conferences Commented On: 2015 CAELS Conference: “Igniting a Spark”; CIRL/CBA NEERLS Symposium on Environment in the Courtroom; JELP 5: “Après le Deluge”

When it rains, it pours. And so it is that the first half of 2015 has the University of Calgary Faculty of Law hosting a series of national environmental law conferences.

2015 Canadian Association of Environmental Law Students (CAELS) Conference: “Igniting a Spark”, February 13 & 14, 2015

Formed in Ottawa a couple of years ago by the membership of the-then University of Ottawa Environmental Law Students Association, CAELS is a networking body connecting environmental law students across Canada. This past year, responsibility for organizing CAELS’ annual conference was transferred to the University of Calgary’s Environmental Law Society (ELS).

The Past, Present, and Future of CIRL’s “Environment in the Courtroom” Symposia

By Allan Ingelson

On April 23, 2014

In Environmental

By: Martin Olszynski and Allan Ingelson

Workshops commented on: Environment in the Courtroom (I): Key Environmental Concepts and the Unique Nature of Environmental Damage; Environment in the Courtroom (II): Environmental Prosecutions; Environment in the Courtroom (III): Sentencing and Environmental Offences

PDF version: The Past, Present, and Future of CIRL’s “Environment in the Courtroom” Symposia

Over the course of the last three years and with the support of Environment Canada (EC), the Canadian Institute for Resources Law (CIRL) has organized a series of symposia intended to strengthen the understanding and application of environmental law in Canadian courtrooms. In this post, we provide a snapshot of what this series has accomplished thus far and, thanks to continued funding and support from EC, the vision going forward as we plan the next three years of symposia.

Clarification of CBM Ownership on Freehold Lands in Alberta

By Allan Ingelson

On November 28, 2010

In Oil & Gas, Property

PDF version: Clarification of CBM Ownership on Freehold Lands in Alberta

Legislation commented on: Bill 26, Mines and Minerals (Coalbed Methane) Amendment Act, 2010, Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Third Session, 27th Legislature, 59 Elizabeth II

One of the obstacles to coalbed methane (CBM) development on freehold lands in Alberta has been uncertainty regarding ownership of CBM on split title freehold lands. CBM ownership disputes have arisen when one person holds the title to natural gas and a different person holds the coal rights for the same parcel of land. Ron Liepert, the Minister of Energy, introduced Bill 26 in the Alberta legislature on October 27, 2010. After the first and second readings of the Bill, the Committee of the Whole passed an amended version on November 23, which includes one additional section.