Category Archives: Environmental

Bill 16, 2011: Alberta Paves the Way for Cleaner Coal with In Situ Coal Gasification

By: Astrid Kalkbrenner

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Legislation Commented On: Bill 16 – Energy Statutes Amendment Act, 2011

On 13 May 2011, the Legislative Assembly of Alberta passed the Energy Statutes Amendment Act (“Bill 16, 2011”). Bill 16, 2011 amends the following acts: the Alberta Utilities Commission Act, RSA 2007, c A-37.2, the Coal Conservation Act (CCA), RSA 2000, c C-17, the Electric Utilities Act, RSA 2003, c E-5.1, the Gas Utilities Act, RSA 2000, c G-5, the Oil and Gas Conservation Act (OGCA), RSA 2000, c O-6, the Oil Sands Conservation Act (OSCA), RSA 2000, c O-7, and the Pipeline Act (PA), RSA, c P-15. The amendments entered into force on 13 May 2011.

Bill 16, 2011 implements two central amendments to the regulatory regime of the above mentioned energy laws. The first amendment removes the Industrial Development Permit (IDP) legislation (see ERCB Bulletin 2010-42). In short, section 51 of the CCA, section 111 of the OGCA and section 27 of the OSCA cancel existing IDPs. The general repeal of these provisions makes it unnecessary to apply for an IDP in the future. See previous post by Nigel Bankes here. The second amendment clarifies the ERCB’s authority to regulate in situ coal development and sets out the requirements for in situ coal projects (see ERCB Bulletin 2009-36).

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Cleaning Up Coal

By: Astrid Kalkbrenner

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Regulations Commented On: Federal Draft Regulations “Reduction of Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Coal-Fired Generation of Electricity Regulations” as of 27 August 2011

On 27 August 2011 the federal government published proposed regulations on the “Reduction of Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Coal-Fired Generation of Electricity” (the “Regulations”). The Regulations are open for comments for a 60-day public consultation period. The final Regulations will be published next year.

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The Fading Federal Presence in Environmental Assessment and the Muting of the Public Interest Voice

PDF version: The Fading Federal Presence in Environmental Assessment and the Muting of the Public Interest Voice 

Topic: Federal environmental assessment and effective public participation update

Good environmental assessment followed by well crafted permits, regulation, monitoring and follow-up responsive to the assessment, results in better planned projects, fewer environmental impacts, and often net environmental and social sustainability gains. The legislative authority for the federal government to carry out the assessment is found in the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (SC 1992, c 37) (“CEAA“) and regulations. The federal government may assess a project when it has constitutional jurisdiction over an area that may be impacted by a project, and, generally, where the federal government has permitting authority over the project or an aspect of it, all as set out in the CEAA and regulations. These areas include fisheries, navigation, migratory birds, federal lands, Aboriginal interests, nuclear facilities, interprovincial and international matters. Having the exclusive right to regulate in these and other areas, only the federal government can do a fully responsive job in assessing impacts. This is because only the federal government is in a position to know what information it needs in the environmental assessment process in order to determine whether it should provide the permit for the project when taking into account likely environmental impacts. If the project does go ahead (like most projects do) only the federal government is in a position to know what it needs during the assessment process in order to properly mitigate and regulate impacts, especially on areas within its jurisdiction. Such mitigation and alteration could include project alterations, monitoring, follow up conditions, and adaptive management measures that may require the proponent to change environmental management because of unexpected impacts. As well, as the responsible protector of the public interest with respect to matters under its jurisdiction, only the federal government can wholly take into account the public and national interest during the environmental assessment and following regulatory processes.

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Failing to Assess the Key Issue: The Unsatisfactory Approval Process for Keystone XL

By: Jocelyn Stacey

PDF Version: Failing to Assess the Key Issue: The Unsatisfactory Approval Process for Keystone XL 

Decisions Commented On: United States Department of State Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Keystone XL Project (August 26, 2011); National Energy Board, TransCanada Keystone Pipeline GP Ltd., OH-1-2009 (March 2010)

For two weeks in August, thousands of protesters staged a sit-in at the White House to protest the imminent approval of TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline expansion project. The project would connect the Alberta oilsands to the Gulf Coast market. In one of the biggest acts of environmental civil disobedience in decades, over 1,200 people were arrested and fined, including big names such as Daryl Hanna, Naomi Klein and NASA climatologist, James Hansen. While the Canadian regulatory process caused barely a ripple in the Canadian public conscience, American protesters have launched a full frontal attack drawing support from celebrities, Senators, Congress members, State Governors and Nobel Prize laureates. Keystone XL has become the next chapter in Alberta’s increasingly hostile relationship with American environmentalists. This post explains the American context of the Keystone XL proposal. Why has it is inflamed environmentalists, and is this more than just politics?

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Another step in implementing ALSA: the review and variance provisions and compensation for compensable takings

 PDF version: Another step in implementing ALSA: the review and variance provisions and compensation for compensable takings

Regulation commented on: Alberta Land Stewardship Regulation, Alta. Reg. 179/2011 

The Alberta Land Stewardship Act, SA 2009, c A-26.8 (ALSA) is a work in progress: see my earlier blog: “ALSA and the property rights debate in Alberta: a certificate of title to land is not a ‘statutory consent’” We won’t know how this beast or angel will turn until we see the first approved plans (see my blog on the draft Lower Athabasca Plan (“The proof of the pudding: ALSA and the Draft Lower Athabasca Regional Plan“) and a complete set of implementing regulations. Here we have the next piece of the puzzle in the form of a set of regulations primarily concerned to implement the 2011 amendments to the ALSA (Bill 10, the Alberta Land Stewardship Amendment Act, 2011) which I blogged at “Regulatory chill, weak regional plans, and lots of jobs for lawyers: the proposed amendments to the Alberta Land Stewardship Act” .

I wasn’t exactly a fan of Bill 10. I thought that it created too many opportunities to put roadblocks in the way of implementing plans. I don’t believe that it is necessary to provide for both plan reviews and variance applications, and I am still of the view that the compensable taking provisions of Bill 10 will foster needless and expensive litigation.

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