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Nova Scotia exploration well approval case

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On August 30, 2012

In Administrative Law, Environmental, Oil & Gas

PDF version:   Nova Scotia exploration well approval case

Decision commented on: Margaree Environmental Association v Nova Scotia (Environment), 2012 NSSC 296.

In this case Justice MacAdam of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court denied a statutory appeal from a decision of the Nova Scotia Department of the Environment to grant an approval to drill an exploration well on a 383,000 acre block in the area around Lake Ainslie.  There is nothing particularly remarkable about the case but I blog it here for these reasons: (1) it’s an oil and gas case and there are surprisingly few oil and gas cases involving judicial review or statutory appeals from decisions to issue (or not issue) a well licence or equivalent; (2) it’s a decision from a non-traditional oil and gas jurisdiction, Nova Scotia.

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The Pleasures and Perils of Holograph Wills

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On August 28, 2012

In Family, Property, Wills and Estates

PDF version: The Pleasures and Perils of Holograph Wills

Case Considered: Lubberts Estate, 2012 ABQB 506

 This Court of Queen’s Bench decision interprets a provision in a holograph will.  The case is an example of the not-uncommon human tendency to try to use property to control family members’ behaviour, both before death by way of gift and after death by way of inheritance.  Like many such efforts, this deceased’s handwritten codicils to her lawyer-drawn will and her subsequent holograph will did not do what she wanted them to do.  Instead of the deceased determining who would inherit her property and on what conditions, her family members inherited under generic, unconditional intestate laws.  It is ironic; the more control the deceased tried to exert over what happened to her property on her death, the less say she had in the disposition of her property in the end.

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Access to Justice: University of Calgary Environmental Law Clinic in 2011/2012 – “What’s legal is not always what is just” – Rick Collier

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On August 20, 2012

In Administrative Law, Environmental, Intervenors and Standing, Water Law

PDF version: Access to Justice: University of Calgary Environmental Law Clinic in 2011/2012 – “What’s legal is not always what is just” – Rick Collier

Case and Decision considered: Kelly v Alberta (Energy Resources Conservation Board), 2012 ABCA 19,

Hohloch v Director, Southern Region, Environmental Management, Alberta Environment and Water, re: Eastern Irrigation District (29 March 2012), (AEAB), Appeal No 10-043-ID2

 As the Fall 2012 term approaches we here at the law school have started to prepare for the return of students and the resumption of lectures.  In my case, this includes getting ready for another year of supervising our environmental law clinic.  Before the new term arrives for the clinic, however, I want to look back on some highlights from 2011/2012.  The clinic allows one to step out of the law school and into the field of environmental disputes in Alberta.  If there was a common theme to all of our files last year, it was access to justice.  I’ve chosen to end this recap with a tribute to Rick Collier who stood up for wilderness in an act of civil disobedience to protest the lack of public input into resource and environmental decision-making in Alberta.

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Quest. The Energy Resources Conservation Board Approves the First Commercial Scale Carbon Capture and Storage Project in Alberta

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On August 3, 2012

In Administrative Law, Carbon Capture and Storage, Energy, Natural Resources, Oil & Gas

By: Nigel Bankes

PDF Version: Quest. The Energy Resources Conservation Board Approves the First Commercial Scale Carbon Capture and Storage Project in Alberta

Decision Commented On: Shell Canada Limited, Application for the Quest Carbon Capture and Storage Project, Radway Field, July 10, 2012, 2012 AERCB 008

In a long-awaited decision issued on July 10, 2012, Alberta’s Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB or Board) approved Shell Canada Limited’s application for a commercial scale CCS project (the Quest Project).  The project is associated with the long standing Athabasca Oil Sands Project (AOSP) and the Scotford Upgrader where new facilities are designed to capture up to 1.2 megatonnes of CO2 per year for ongoing injection.  The cumulative stored volume is expected to be greater than 27 Mt of CO2 over the expected 25 year life of the Scotford Upgrader.  The approval is subject to some 23 conditions and, as contemplated by the scheme approval provision of section 39(2) of the Oil and Gas Conservation Act, RSA 2000, c O- 6 (OGCA), the project will only be finally approved by the ERCB following review by the Minister of the Environment who may impose additional conditions on the scheme approval.

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British Columbia and the Northern Gateway Pipeline

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On July 25, 2012

In Constitutional, Energy, Natural Resources, Oil & Gas

PDF version: British Columbia and the Northern Gateway Pipeline

Document commented on: BC Outlines requirements for heavy oil pipeline projects, July 23, 2012.

The proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline is proving to be extremely contentious on a number of fronts. It raises important questions about the duty to consult and accommodate indigenous peoples who may be affected by the project; it raises questions about the joint review panel and the role of the National Energy Board (see post here) and the amendments to the National Energy Board brought about by the Budget Bill, Bill C-38, now SC 2012, c 19); and, most recently, the province of British Columbia’s Environment Minister, Terry Lake and Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation Minister, Mary Polak, have outlined the government of British Columbia’s five minimum requirements that must be met for that province “to consider the construction and operation of heavy oil pipelines within its borders.”

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