Category Archives: Energy

As Bill C-69 Receives Royal Assent, Will the Project List Deliver on the Promise?

PDF Version: As Bill C-69 Receives Royal Assent, Will the Project List Deliver on the Promise?

Matter Commented On: Discussion Paper on the Proposed Project List

Last week, Bill C-69 finally passed through the Senate and received Royal Assent. That the legislative process has been long and fraught goes without saying. On its first passage through the Senate, a total of 229 amendments were made to the legislation. While 130 of those amendments were ultimately rejected, Bill C-69 incorporates 99 of them – 62 as proposed by the Senate and 37 with government alterations. This reportedly is “the highest number of amendments on any piece of legislation since at least 1946.” Continue reading →

The Implications of the AUC’s Smith Decision

By: Nigel Bankes

PDF Version: The Implications of the AUC’s Smith Decision

Decisions commented on: AUC Decision 23756-DOI-2019, Advantage Oil and Gas Ltd. Glacier Power Plant Alteration, April 26, 2019; and AUC Decision 24393-D01-2019, International Paper Canada Pulp Holdings ULC Request for Permanent Connection for 48-Megawatt Power Plant, June 6, 2019.

In its Smith decision earlier this year, the AUC concluded that a self-generator could only avoid the general must offer, must exchange obligations imposed by the Electric Utilities Act, SA 2003, c E-5.1, (EUA; and regulations) and the Hydro and Electric Energy Act, RSA 2000, c H-16,(HEEA) if it fell within one of the prescribed exceptions in the legislative scheme. ABlawg commented on the Smith decision here: Opening a Can of Worms.

In these decisions, two AUC panels have confirmed the Smith decision, and in doing so further explore the implications of Smith for both new generation and for existing generation. Continue reading →

Gross Overriding Royalty Payable on 100% of Production

By: Nigel Bankes

PDF Version: Gross Overriding Royalty Payable on 100% of Production

Case Commented On: Obsidian Energy Partnership v Grizzly Resources Ltd, 2019 ABQB 406

In this decision, Master J.T. Prowse granted summary judgment in favour of Obsidian (formerly Penn West Petroleum) against Grizzly Resources, concluding that Obsidian’s gross overriding royalty interest (GORR) of 2.75% was payable on 100% of production from the encumbered properties rather than on Grizzly’s working interest in the properties. Continue reading →

Setting the Record Straight on Federal and Provincial Jurisdiction Over the Environmental Assessment of Resource Projects in the Provinces

By: Martin Olszynski and Nigel Bankes

PDF Version: Setting the Record Straight on Federal and Provincial Jurisdiction Over the Environmental Assessment of Resource Projects in the Provinces

Matter Commented On:Bill C-69: An Act to enact the Impact Assessment Act and the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, to ament the Navigation Protection Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts

Alberta’s new premier has recently threatened to sue the federal government over Bill C-69, the Liberal government’s attempt to restore some credibility to Canada’s environmental assessment regime. More specifically, Premier Kenney has recently been asserting that section 92A of the Constitution Act, 1982, which gives the provinces jurisdiction over the development of non-renewable natural resources, precludes the federal government from assessing what the Premier describes as “provincial projects”: “[BillC-69] gives a new federal agency the power to regulate provincial projects, such as in situ oil sands developments and petrochemical refineries, which are entirely within a province’s borders and already subject to provincial regulation. It disregards a landmark Supreme Court ruling on jurisdiction and the balance between federal and provincial powers spelled out in the Constitution — including section 92A in which provinces have exclusive authority over non-renewable resource projects.” In making these comments, the Premier contradicts almost three decades of settled jurisprudence with respect to the federal and provincial division of powers over the environment generally, and federal jurisdiction to conduct environmental assessments specifically. Continue reading →

(Final?) Brief re: Bill C-69 to the Senate Committee on Energy, Environment and Natural Resources

By: Martin Olszynski

Legislation Commented On:Bill C-69, An Act to enact the Impact Assessment Act and the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, to amend the Navigation Protection Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts

PDF Version: (Final?) Brief re: Bill C-69 to the Senate Committee on Energy, Environment and Natural Resources

The Senate Committee on Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources (the Committee) is in the final stages of its hearings into Bill C-69, which if passed will replace the current federal environmental assessment regime pursuant to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act 2012, SC 2012 c 19 s 52 (CEAA, 2012). What follows is a slightly edited version of the brief that I submitted to the Committee last week, following my appearance before it on April 9, 2019, here in Calgary.

I am pleased to submit this brief to the Committee as part of your review of Bill C-69 – and the proposed Impact Assessment Act (IAA) in particular. Much has been said and written about Bill C-69. In addition to this brief, I myself have written or co-written the following articles/blogs since Bill C-69 was passed in the House of Commons:

My own contributions have been spurred less by a desire to defend the Bill and more to simply set the record straight. That is the spirit that animated my remarks to the Committee on April 9, 2019 and that is at the core of this brief, which is organized as follows: Continue reading →