ABLawg - - Page 301

News release commented on: Alberta Government, “Province seeks input on new energy regulator” (February 13, 2013).

The Government of Alberta announced on February 13 that it will be holding public consultation sessions as part of its process to develop the new regulations under the Responsible Energy Development Act. Public consultation sessions are taking place in 18 communities across the province and began on Wednesday, February 20. A list of the 18 sessions can be found on the Alberta Energy “Regulatory Enhancement Project” web page. The Calgary session will take place on February 25, 2013 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Glenmore Inn and Convention Centre, 2720 Glenmore Trail SE.

When is a Lease Issued “In Lieu” of an Existing Lease?

By Nigel Bankes

On February 20, 2013

In Limitations, Oil & Gas

PDF version: When is a lease issued “in lieu” of an existing lease?

Case Commented In: Canadian Natural Resources Limited v Jensen Resources Ltd, 2012 ABQB 786

In the early 1980s the Government of Alberta decided to make a clearer distinction in its tenure regime between grants of conventional petroleum and natural gas (PNG) rights and grants of oil sands rights. In implementing this policy the province went so far as to redefine the rights contained in existing Crown PNG leases. But in return, it allowed the affected PNG lessees to apply for a form of oil sands tenure for the rights that had been excluded from the PNG leases. That’s what happened in this case and the issue was whether Jensen’s gross overriding royalty (GOR) which clearly applied to the PNG leases also carried over to the oil sands rights. Justice Jo’Anne Strekaf held that it did.

No Public Interest Standing at the Alberta Environmental Appeals Board

By Shaun Fluker

On February 15, 2013

In Environmental, Intervenors and Standing, Water Law

PDF version: No Public Interest Standing at the Alberta Environmental Appeals Board

Decisions considered: Alberta Wilderness Association v Alberta (Environmental Appeal Board), 2013 ABQB 44; Water Matters Society of Alberta et al v Director, Southern Region, Operations Division, Alberta Environment and Water, re: Western Irrigation District and Bow River Irrigation District (10 April 2012), Appeal Nos. 10-053-055 and 11-009-014-D (AEAB), (the “EAB Standing Decision”).

Over the past decade, Alberta Environment has amended water licenses held by irrigation districts (IDs) to allow these IDs to allocate water for commercial purposes other than irrigation. Some question the authority of Alberta Environment to approve these amendments under the Alberta Water Act, RSA 2000, c W-3. The general argument here is that such change-of-purpose license amendments should be handled as a transfer of license allocation under the Water Act. And this argument is grounded on several points, including that by using the license amendment route rather than a transfer the conservation holdback provision of the Water Act is avoided and the amendment approach involves significantly less opportunity for public oversight over water management. This latter point has borne out further as public interest groups have been consistently denied standing to contest these approvals by Alberta Environment and the Alberta Environmental Appeals Board (EAB). The summary point is that Alberta Environment and the EAB assert public interest groups do not qualify as “directly affected” by a license amendment, and thus have no standing to file a statement of concern with Alberta Environment and/or a notice of appeal with the Board under the Water Act to challenge the legality of these amendments.

The Justice Minister’s Take on Current Human Rights and Civil Liberties Issues in Alberta

By Jennifer Koshan

On February 4, 2013

In Human Rights

PDF version: The Justice Minister’s Take on Current Human Rights and Civil Liberties Issues in Alberta

On January 25, 2013, Alberta Justice Minister Jonathan Denis spoke to a crowd of about 50 people gathered by the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership and the Rocky Mountain Civil Liberties Association. The audience included lawyers, educators, government folks, NGO representatives, and advocates for human rights and civil liberties. Minister Denis delivered remarks on current human rights and civil liberties issues in the province and also took questions from the audience. His remarks and the Q + A covered issues concerning access to justice, the government’s position on the fate of sections 3 and 11.1 of the Alberta Human Rights Act, RSA 2000, c A-25.5 (AHRA), Alberta’s new drinking and driving law, and peaceful protests, all of which will be explored in this post.

ABlawg 5th anniversary challenges

By Admin

On February 1, 2013

In Uncategorized

PDF version: ABlawg 5th anniversary challenges

As noted in a previous post, February 2013 marks the fifth anniversary of the launch of ABlawg. We have already encouraged our readers to subscribe, and to get your colleagues to subscribe, which you can do here or by following us on Twitter. Help us double our readership to over 1200 subscribers!

Our new challenge is to ask readers to tell us about your favourite post(s) from the past five years, which you can do by directly commenting on that post or by posting to our comments page here. How to decide on your favourite, given that there have been nearly 600 posts to ABlawg in the past five years? Perhaps you will choose the post that has been the most useful to you, be that in advising your clients, supporting a legal argument in a paper or factum (or judgment!), or advocating for a particular outcome outside the practice / writing of law. Or maybe you will choose the most irreverent or controversial post, one that made you re-think your position on a legal or policy issue. Perhaps you are aware of the impact that ABlawg posts have had on the development of law or policy, and you will make your choice on that basis. Or maybe the post with the catchiest title, or with the most interesting links or attachments have won you over. Consider as well the series of posts we’ve written, including those on Bill 2, the Responsible Energy Development Act, and our series of posts on the most significant cases of the 2000s.

Whatever your choice, please let us know about your favourite posts, and your reasons why they are your favourites. Although we reserve the right to maintain our academic freedom, we also aim to please our readers, and would love to know what you enjoy about ABlawg. Tell us!

Public Consultations on Responsible Energy Development Act Regulations

When is a Lease Issued “In Lieu” of an Existing Lease?

No Public Interest Standing at the Alberta Environmental Appeals Board

The Justice Minister’s Take on Current Human Rights and Civil Liberties Issues in Alberta

ABlawg 5th anniversary challenges