Author: Drew Yewchuk Page 6 of 19

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.

By: Drew Yewchuk

Decision Commented on: Freedom of Information Request to the Alberta Energy Regulator 2021-G-0025

PDF Version: Investigating the Orphan Fund Levy Using Freedom of Information Requests

This is a follow-up on an earlier ABlawg post from March 2022: “How is the Orphan Fund Levy Set? Alberta’s Oil and Gas Clean-up Costs in 2022”. That post was the result of work by the Public Interest Law Clinic on how Alberta’s oil and gas clean-up liabilities were being managed. That post tried to answer the question of how the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) was setting the amount of the Orphan Fund Levy.

Administrative Penalties at the Alberta Energy Regulator: A Gentle Slap on the Wrist for Ovintiv

By Drew Yewchuk

On April 12, 2023

In Energy, Oil & Gas

By: Drew Yewchuk

Decision Commented On: AER Administrative Penalty 202304-03, Ovintiv Canada ULC

PDF Version: Administrative Penalties at the Alberta Energy Regulator: A Gentle Slap on the Wrist for Ovintiv

I recently turned my mind to the subject of how the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) makes decisions on financial penalties to companies that contravene the conditions of their project approvals. This post is the first in what may become a series of blogs on the question.

Polluter Pays Principle at Risk: Auditor General Finds Alberta’s Oil and Gas Liability Regime Still Badly Deficient

By Drew Yewchuk

On March 31, 2023

In Oil & Gas

Regulatory Documents Commented on: Auditor General of Alberta, “Liability Management of (Non-Oil Sands) Oil and Gas Infrastructure”, March 2023

By: Drew Yewchuk, Shaun Fluker, and Martin Olszynski

PDF Version: Polluter Pays Principle at Risk: Auditor General Finds Alberta’s Oil and Gas Liability Regime Still Badly Deficient

Late last week, the Auditor General of Alberta released a scathing report that concludes that, notwithstanding some ongoing reforms, the management and regulation of end-of-life oil and gas liabilities by the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) remains seriously deficient in several key areas. This assessment of the AER is one of four components of the Auditor General’s March 2023 report, and is set out as Section 2 Liability Management of (Non-Oil Sands) Oil and Gas Infrastructure (AG AER Report). The AG AER Report audited AER operations to assess (1) whether the AER’s current liability management system effectively mitigated the risks associated with the closure of oil and gas infrastructure and (2) whether the AER appropriately identified the risks and gaps in the previous liability management system and prepared an implementation plan for changes to effectively mitigate those risks and gaps. This comment focuses on the findings that the AER’s oil and gas liability management regime remains deficient in key areas.

Updates to the Oil and Gas Liability Management Framework: The New Closure Nomination and The Renamed Closure Quotas

By Drew Yewchuk

On March 22, 2023

In Oil & Gas

Regulatory Documents Commented on: Directive 088: Licensee Life-Cycle Management (February 2023) and Manual 23: Licensee Life-Cycle Management (February 2023)

By: Drew Yewchuk

PDF Version: Updates to the Oil and Gas Liability Management Framework: The New Closure Nomination and The Renamed Closure Quotas

The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) continues to work towards implementing the Government of Alberta’s new Liability Management Framework. This post goes into the details of this implementation, on the assumption the reader is familiar with the ongoing reforms. For some background, see ABlawg’s post from February 2021 here, and my 8 November 2022 post. This post covers the February 2023 updates from the AER: a new Directive 088: Licensee Life-Cycle Management, a new Manual 23: Licensee Life-Cycle Management, responses to an engagement survey on Directive 088, and the Fall 2022 Engagement Session Q&A on Closure Nomination. The AER also released a new explanatory video.

The Alberta Energy Regulator and the Disclosure Without Delay Rule in FOIP

By Drew Yewchuk

On March 6, 2023

In Energy, Privacy

Commented On: Alberta Energy Regulator Announcement – March 02, 2023: Alberta Energy Regulator Actively Investigating and Responding to Imperial Oil Kearl Site Incident; and Letter to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner Requesting an Investigation of AER Emergency Disclosure Policy

By: Drew Yewchuk

PDF Version: The Alberta Energy Regulator and the Disclosure Without Delay Rule in FOIP

The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) has been aware that industrial effluent has been seeping from a tailings pit at Imperial’s Kearl oilsands mine since May 2022. (They should not be called tailings ‘ponds’ – they may be pits or lakes, but ‘pond’ implies they are small, which they absolutely are not). The AER chose to make this information public on February 4, 2023, when an estimated 5,300 cubic meters of “[s]torage pond overflowed off lease” and the AER began investigating Imperial for “[f]ailure to comply with conditions of an approval and release of industrial watewater [sic] from an unapproved location” (AER compliance dashboard, incident number 20230311 and investigation number 2023-009).