Tag Archives: standing

A Lost Opportunity for Clarifying Public Participation Issues in Oil and Gas Decision Making

Cases Considered: Graff v. Alberta (Energy and Utilities Board), 2008 ABCA 119

PDF Version: A Lost Opportunity for Clarifying Public Participation Issues in Oil and Gas Decision Making

Those of us following the year-long journey of the Graff family (the “Graffs”) through the Court of Appeal were stunned when the final decision was handed down on March 26, 2008. While the grounds upon which leave to appeal had been granted held out promises of clarification on certain key public participation issues in oil and gas development, none of these grounds were ultimately dealt with by the Court. Instead, both appeals (heard together) were dismissed on the basic procedural point that parties requesting standing before the Energy and Utilities Board (the “EUB”, now the ERCB) must provide at least some relevant evidence to support their claim of being “directly and adversely” affected.
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Leave to Intervene Denied to Métis Nation in Case Involving Disinterment of RCMP

Cases Considered: Johnston v. Alberta (Vital Statistics), 2008 ABCA 2, Johnston v. Alberta (Director of Vital Statistics, 2007 ABCA 394, Johnston v. Alberta (Director of Vital Statistics), 2007 ABQB 597

PDF Version: Leave to Intervene Denied to Métis Nation in Case Involving Disinterment of RCMP

The case concerning Constable Lionide (Leo) Johnston’s place of burial has been before the Alberta courts a number of times, and has received a fair degree of media attention. Constable Johnston was one of four RCMP officers killed in the line of duty on March 3, 2005 near Mayerthorpe, Alberta.

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Standing Against Public Participation at the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board

Cases Considered: Sawyer v. Alberta (Energy and Utilities Board), 2007 ABCA 297

PDF Version: Standing Against Public Participation at the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board

In September 2007, the Alberta Court of Appeal denied leave to appeal an AEUB (now the Energy Resources Conservation Board) decision that affirmed its longstanding position that participatory rights to contest the merits of an energy project by, for example, presenting evidence and/or cross-examining the project proponent, are not available to recreational users of public lands or urban environmentalists.

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