Climate and Energy

NEW CASE ALERT: Crown consultation and pipelines - Brokenhead Ojibway Nation v. Canada (Attorney General), is a brief that focuses on a new Federal Court decision about the government’s duty to consult First Nations when considering pipeline projects (May 2009).

New federal court ruling suggests that Crown has an independent duty to consult, separate from its regulatory approval processes, on projects with major impacts on Aboriginal Title and Rights.

The Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline: Risks for Downstream Communities and Fisheries focuses on the potential impacts of the pipeline on First Nations and other communities living downstream of the pipeline’s river crossings.

This paper has been written to contribute to the discussion concerning local governments and their efforts to build more sustainable communities. The specific goal is to provide some analysis and practical guidance regarding how local governments may use the legal tools available to advance green initiatives.

While oil and gas companies have the expertise and resources to take care of their interests when dealing with landowners, the average landowner has limited knowledge of the industry, the applicable laws, and the implications of oil and gas development for their own interests. This Toolkit helps correct that imbalance.

The BC Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection has released a “Code of Practice Intentions Paper” – a summary of its proposed Code of Practice for the Discharge of Produced Water from Coalbed Gas Operations.

Once approved and finalized, the Code will become a Code of Practice under the Environmental Management Act – BC’s primary pollution prevention law.

Pump it Out is a web-based guide for citizens interested in knowing more about the environmental consequences of a typical ‘upstream’ oil and gas project in BC. These consequences can be both global (greenhouse gas emissions) and local (seismic lines, roads, pumpjacks, gathering lines, and processing facilities in the farm fields and wilderness areas of north-eastern BC). West Coast Environmental Law believes it is especially important to understand the environmental consequences now - at a time when major national, provincial, and local decisions are being made.

BC is experiencing an oil and gas boom. As with most booms, however, the rapid pace of activity has not led to responsible development. Landowners, conservationists, First Nations, and labour share this concern, and have joined together to release a 10 point platform for responsible development in BC’s terrestrial oil and gas industry.

This discussion paper summarizes key points of interest or concern with respect to environmental assessment (EA) and how it may relate to oil and gas projects. Environmental assessment law in Canada is complicated, making it difficult to be brief and comprehensive at the same time. The primary focus of this paper is to provide information to identify issues and questions about the federal regime.

In late December 2004, the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection provided West Coast Environmental Law (West Coast) with its Code of Practice Intentions Paper [Code of Practice for the Discharge of Produced Water from Coalbed Gas Operations] for comment. The Intentions Paper is a summary document outlining the Ministry’s proposed Code of Practice.

This checklist has been prepared in response to an invitation by the BC Government to comment confidentially on the Draft Code of Practice for Discharge of Produced Water from Coalbed Gas Operations. Because West Coast could not be bound by a confidentiality agreement and still work with members of the public to ensure a strong regulatory approach to coalbed methane produced water, we have not seen the Code of Practice, and instead, have framed our comments in the form of a checklist by which the public may evaluate the Code when it is released.