Category: Privacy Page 3 of 13

The Department of Energy and Minerals Finally Releases the Text of a Ministerial Order Delegating Technical CCS-Related Decision-Making Authority to the Alberta Energy Regulator

On January 29, 2024

By: Nigel Bankes

Matter Commented On: Minister of Energy, Ministerial Order 060/2023, Delegating certain powers of the Minister under the Mines and Minerals Act and the Carbon Sequestration Tenure Regulation, to persons holding particular positions within the Alberta Energy Regulator, April 25, 2023

PDF Version: The Department of Energy and Minerals Finally Releases the Text of a Ministerial Order Delegating Technical CCS-Related Decision-Making Authority to the Alberta Energy Regulator

On April 25, 2023 Peter Guthrie, then Minister of Energy for the Province of Alberta, signed Ministerial Order 060/2023 delegating certain of the Minister’s powers with respect to carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects to staff within the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER). In my view this, in principle, is a sound decision and reflects the recommendations made by the Steering Committee of Alberta’s Regulatory Framework Assessment more than a decade ago. In the interests of transparency, I disclose that I was a member of that Committee. The Committee took the view that while the Department of Energy (now the Department of Energy and Minerals) should have responsibility for decisions related to carbon sequestration tenure and broad questions of policy, responsibility for the more technical decisions related to a CCS project, such as the conditions for issuing a closure certificate, should be made by the AER. The distinction between these different types of decisions had been blurred with the adoption of the CCS amendments to the Mines and Minerals Act, RSA 2000, c M-15 (MMA) in 2010.

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.

#AI Facial Recognition Technology in the Retail Industry

By Gideon Christian

On January 5, 2024

In Artificial Intelligence, Privacy

By: Gideon Christian

Issue Commented On: OIPC Investigation Report 23-02: Canadian Tire Associate Dealers’ use of facial recognition technology, 2023 BCIPC 17

PDF Version: #AI Facial Recognition Technology in the Retail Industry

One summer day in 2023, I entered a Walmart store in Calgary, Alberta, and purchased three standing fans. Upon assembling the fans at home, I discovered that one was malfunctioning. I immediately decided to return it to the store. Armed with my purchase receipt, I walked to the return desk. After a brief wait in line, I presented the defective fan and the receipt to the Walmart staff. To my astonishment, he informed me that the receipt was not necessary and casually remarked, “You bought three of these today, right?” Concealing my surprise, I affirmed. He swiftly processed my refund.

Freedom of Information: Brokering Access for Records on Oil and Gas Liability Management at the AER

By Drew Yewchuk

On October 11, 2023

In Privacy

By: Drew Yewchuk

Matter Commented On: “A Made-in-Alberta Failure: Unfunded Oil and Gas Closure Liability” School of Public Policy Paper Series, October 2023

PDF Version: Freedom of Information: Brokering Access for Records on Oil and Gas Liability Management at the AER

This blog post is a companion to “A Made-in-Alberta Failure: Unfunded Oil and Gas Closure Liability”, a research paper Martin Olszynski, Shaun Fluker, and I wrote for the School of Public Policy. The paper describes the decades of regulatory failure in Albertan policy on inactive and orphan oil and gas wells and identifies the core deficiencies in the regulatory approach. This post provides a summary of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, RSA 2000, c F-25 (FOIP) access brokering process with the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) for the records obtained for writing that paper. Altogether, more than 1,500 pages of records were obtained through FOIP, although that includes a large number of duplicated pages. The documents cited in the research paper are attached to the paper as an appendix.

A Blog with Two Titles: (1) The Current Status of Monitoring, Measurement and Verification Requirements for Carbon Capture and Storage Projects in Alberta, and (2) When Does a Ministerial Order Have to be Published?

By Nigel Bankes

On September 7, 2023

In Carbon Capture and Storage, Privacy

By: Nigel Bankes

Documents commented on: AER Bulletin 2023-29, July 27, 2023; a new edition of AER Directive 065: Resources Applications for Oil and Gas Reservoirs, July 27, 2023; and Ministerial Order MO 60/2023

PDF Version: A Blog with Two Titles: (1) The Current Status of Monitoring, Measurement and Verification Requirements for Carbon Capture and Storage Projects in Alberta, and (2) When Does a Ministerial Order Have to be Published?

As the title suggests this post addresses two matters. First it refers to some recent developments in Monitoring, Measurement and Verification (MMV) requirements for carbon capture and storage projects (CCS) in Alberta, and in particular the allocation (and now, it seems, a reallocation) of the regulatory responsibility for these requirements as between the recently rebranded Ministry of Energy and Minerals (MEM) and the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER). Second, it addresses the more general question of when ministerial orders have to be published. While these matters appear to be unrelated they are in fact joined at the hip, as I hope to demonstrate.