Law Commons^™

Big Oil Liability In Canada: Lessons From The Us And The Netherlands, David W-L Wu

Dalhousie Law Journal

The number of nuisance and negligence tort claims in the US against “Big Oil” companies have grown significantly in the last five years. The Netherlands case of Milieudefensie et al v Royal Dutch Shell represents the first major success of such a claim internationally. While the US cases and Milieudefensie demonstrate starkly different approaches as to how to seek accountability from Big Oil for climate change harms, the increasing judicial engagement on these issues may mean the time is right for similar lawsuits in Canada. Three Canadian common law causes of action are examined: nuisance, negligence, and unjust enrichment. Defences …

Impact Assessment And Responsible Business Conduct Tools In The Extractive Sector: An Environmental Human Rights Toolbox For Government, Business, Civil Society, And Indigenous Groups, Sara L. Seck, Charlotte Connolly, Penelope Simons, Audrey Axten

Responsible Business Conduct and Impact Assessment Law

This toolbox provides guidance on how governments, businesses, civil society, and Indigenous groups may encourage and adopt a human rights approach to impact assessment (IA). It forms part of a broader research project aimed at highlighting the interrelationship between IA laws and Responsible Business Conduct (RBC) tools, funded by the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Knowledge Synthesis Grant: Informing Best Practices in Environmental & Impact Assessments (the “KSG”).

Game Of Tones: A Twail-Analysis Of The Evolution And Impacts Of The United Nations Framework Convention On Climate Change Technology Transfer Regime In Africa, Adebayo Majekolagbe

LLM Theses

The 1992 Rio Outcome articulates what is arguably, to date, the most ambitious North–South environmentally sound technology (EST) transfer aspirations. Yet, 26 years post-Rio, Africa remains at the lowest rung of the global EST deployment totem. Departing from talking-points like the connection of EST transfer and intellectual property rights, this research focuses on the normative underpinnings of the history, processes and dynamics of UNFCCC’s EST transfer regime. Using a ‘reconsidered’ Third World Approach to International Law approach and its accompanying historical research methodology, the thesis seeks to track landmarks in UNFCCC’s EST transfer regime evolution and the impacts of a …

Book Review: Colin T Reid And Walters Nsoh, The Privatisation Of Biodiversity? New Approaches To Conservation Law, New Horizons In Environmental And Energy Law, Sara Seck

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The Privatisation of Biodiversity? New Approaches to Conservation Law, written by Colin T Reid and Walters Nsoh, is a recently published addition to the Edward Elgar book series New Horizons in Environmental and Energy Law. The book explores how “private rights and market devices” may serve as an alternative to “direct ‘command and control’ regulation”, and so ensure that the use of natural resources remains within ecological limits, while preventing the loss of habitat, habitat degradation, and species extinctions. A diverse range of mechanisms are considered under the “privatisation” heading, with “an emphasis on private law frameworks” that enable private …

The Role Of Strategic Environmental Assessments In Improving The Governance Of Emerging New Industries: A Case Study Of Wind Developments In Nova Scotia, Meinhard Doelle, Rebecca Critchley

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This article explores the potential for strategic environmental assessments to enhance project decisions. It does so by taking a retrospective look at Wind energy project decisions in Nova Scotia in the past 15 years, decisions that have been made in the absence of a strategic environmental assessment. The study considers both individual project approvals and two contrasting municipal responses to the emergence of the industry.

The aim of the retrospective is to identify the key challenges this industry faced in establishing itself in Nova Scotia. The article then considers to what extent the challenges could have been avoided through the …

The Role Of Strategic Environmental Assessments (Seas) In Energy Governance: A Case Study Of Tidal Energy In Nova Scotia's Bay Of Fundy, Meinhard Doelle

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The article considers the role of strategic environmental assessments in improving decision making by government decision makers faced with the arrival of a new industry to its jurisdiction. It uses using the arrival of the in stream tidal energy industry in Nova Scotia as a case study. The article first considers the existing federal and provincial regulatory context for decisions about whether, where and under what conditions to approve tidal energy projects in the Bay of Fundy region. It then provides an overview of a strategic environmental assessment carried out on behalf of the province of Nova Scotia in 2007/2008, …

Developments. In Newfoundland And Labrador Offshore Royalties: From Hibernia To Hebron And Back, R J. Thrasher, Simon Baines

Dalhousie Law Journal

This paper traces the historical development of the offshore oil and gas royalty regime for Newfoundland and Labrador, from the first negotiated private royalty agreement for the Hibernia project, through the application of both generic and project-specific regulatory schemes applicable to later projects, up to the Hibernia Southern Expansion. The variations in key provisions across the six major projects are reviewed, with regard to royalty structures, transportation cost eligibility, cost and production allocation, dispute settlement and legislative stability clauses. Finally, the prospect for application of innovations and solutions developed to date to future projects is considered.

Onshore Oil And Gas Regimes In Atlantic Canada:, Michael P. Simms, Carole Chan

Dalhousie Law Journal

The focus ofoiland gas development in the Atlantic region has for many years been on the offshore areas. However, there is active exploration and some production onshore, and it is likely that interest and investment will increase in this sector in coming years. This paper considers the legislative regimes for onshore oil and gas development in the Atlantic provinces-including tenure arrangements, surface access issues, operational regulation, pooling and unitization provisions, royalties and abandonment and liability-with comparisons to schemes applicable in western Canada. The existing legislative regimes in the Atlantic region date back many years, and are likely to be the …

Regulation Of Alternative Energy Projects In Atlantic Canada, David Henley, Christopher Stewart

Dalhousie Law Journal

This paper reviews the current regulatory regime for alternative energy projects, including wind power tidal power and biomass energy, in the Atlantic provinces. At present the regulatory approaches vary across the provincial jurisdictions, with a more consistent federal regime alsogoverning some aspects of operations, and some involvement of municipal authorities. To varying degrees the four provinces have committed to enhancing the proportion of energy supply derived from these sources. If these goals are to be met, investors and developers are likely to expect a streamlining of the regulatory process across the region in coming years, reflecting a maturing industry

Confidential Information And Governments: Balancing The Public's Right To Access Government Records And An Oil And Gas Company's Right To Protect Confidential Information, Stephen Burns, Todd Newhook, Sébastien Gittens

Dalhousie Law Journal

This paper explores the relationship between the public's right to access records in the custody or under the control of the government with the oil and gas industry's need to protect its confidential information from disclosure. Focusing on practical issues, the authors review the law of confidence, the structure of the access to information legislation and related case law, the public policy considerations supporting same, and some of the risks and pitfalls that organizations can avoid if they consider such legislation when interacting with public bodies.

Foreword, Phillip Saunders

Dalhousie Law Journal

This special edition of the Dalhousie Law Journal includes selected papers from the 4th East Coast Seminar of the Canadian Energy Law Foundation. The scope and depth ofthe articles which follow demonstrate the growing maturity ofthe East Coast Energy sector, both inthe refinement and further definition of the offshore exploration and exploitation regimes that were the focus ofthe 1st East Coast Seminar in 2000, and the increasing relevance of government and industry interest in land-based hydrocarbons as well as alternative energy sources such as wind and tidal power. This collection reflects the importance of these developments, and also extends to …

The Land Tenure System In The Newfoundland And Labrador Offshore Regulatory Regime: Review, Analysis And Current Issues, Alexander Macdonald, Nick Crosbie

Dalhousie Law Journal

The development of an offshore oiland gas industry in the Gulf ofSt. Lawrence has created, for the first time, the potential for interactions between the Newfoundland and Labrador offshore regulatory regime and other regimes (either the new regime in Quebec or the National Energy Board). As industry participants evaluate where they will spend their exploration dollars, they will need to understand the various regulatory regimes in place. Land tenure in Newfoundland and Labrador is similar to the regime in places subject to the jurisdiction of the National Energy Board. Over the past 25 years, however the decisions of the courts …

Deepwater Horizon: Lessons For The Offshore, Wiley Spicer

Dalhousie Law Journal

This paper reviews the regulatory framework governing offshore oil and gas operations on the continental shelf. Offshore exploration comprises both marine and industrial elements, regulated through a complex web of national (coastal state) regulation and international conventions, the latter primarily directed towards the marine aspects of operations. Following the Deepwater Horizon disaster of 2010, the adequacy of current regulatory approaches came under increased scrutiny It is argued in this paper that the growing complexity of the industry, coupled with increasing activity in deepwater and Arctic environments, requires development of a more robust system of international regulation.

Off The Grid: Federal Jurisdiction And The Canadian Electricity Sector, Ian Blue

Dalhousie Law Journal

The author argues that the federal government should empower the National Energy Board to regulate transmission access on provincial electricity systems including the authority to order a provincial utility to construct new facilities, for the purpose of creating a truly national electricity system and facilitating interprovincial and international electricity sales. First, because Canada needs a national regulator who can address the creeping Americanization of the Canadian electricity sector arising from the U.S. legislation and decisions of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Second, because Canada needs a nationalbody to facilitate the movement ofnon-greenhouse gas sources of electricity to markets where it …

American And Canadian Responses To The Challenge Of Small Power Production, J O. Krowina

Dalhousie Law Journal

Small power producers' are in the vanguard of the movement towards the increased use of "alternative" modes of generating electricity. Wind, water, solar, biomass, and cogeneration (which creates useful heat and electricity in one process) power sources promise increased efficiency, reduced environmental impacts and increased energy self-sufficiency. This paper undertakes to examine the interactions between small power producers and the established utility sector in North America. In particular, it examines the economic and institutional barriers faced by small producers attempting to gain access to utility-controlled electricity markets.

Protecting Solar Access In Canada: The Common Law Approach, Marie-Ann Bowden

Dalhousie Law Journal

The viability and adaptability of both active and passive solar collectors as alternative energy sources is not to be doubted; Canadian studies have deterrmined that a solar heated home is feasible in locations south of 530NI and although the radiation incident on each metre of land surface is relatively low in this country2 the total amount of solar energy received in Canada is over 7,000 times the total energy consumed.3 Government sources indicate that in spite of the relatively diffuse form of solar energy, most Canadian locales are suitable for solar water, pool and space heaters.4 As the technology develops …

The Energy Crisis And The Emergency Power In Canada, Herbert Marx

Dalhousie Law Journal

The Energy Supplies Emergency Act passed on January 11, 1974 does not have a preamble. However, it would seem that the long title of the Act incorporates in resum6 fashion what a preamble would normally contain. The raison d'tre of the Act is set out in the title which is as follows: "An Act to provide a means to conserve the supplies of petroleum products within Canada during periods of national emergency caused by shortages or market disturbances affecting the national security and welfare and the economic stability of Canada. . ." The Act was adopted after the 1973 Yom …

The Energy Crisis And The Emergency Power In Canada, Herbert Marx

Dalhousie Law Journal

The Energy Supplies Emergency Act passed on January 11, 1974 does not have a preamble. However, it would seem that the long title of the Act incorporates in resum6 fashion what a preamble would normally contain. The raison d'tre of the Act is set out in the title which is as follows: "An Act to provide a means to conserve the supplies of petroleum products within Canada during periods of national emergency caused by shortages or market disturbances affecting the national security and welfare and the economic stability of Canada. . ." The Act was adopted after the 1973 Yom …