Canadian Energy Law : Lawyers & Attorneys for Environmental Energy Law

In response to the Federal Oil Sands Advisory Panel’s report released in December, the federal Minister of the Environment, Peter Kent, announced a $20-million per year comprehensive water quality monitoring system for the Athabasca River.

In its research findings, the Oil Sands Advisory Panel concluded that the environmental monitoring programs already in place are unable to definitively distinguish, with reasonable statistical confidence or power, oil sands industrial impacts from natural sources.

The new proposed monitoring system will include more frequent and widespread sampling of the Athabasca River, and will eventually encompass the monitoring of air quality and biodiversity. The program will be administered by Environment Canada and is expected to be funded by oil sands producers.
 

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The British government announced that it would levy a new tax on oil companies’ profits (expected to result in £2 billion ($3.2 billion) in additional taxes) in order to shift the pain felt by many consumers as a result of triple-digit crude prices. In exchange for this new tax on oil companies, the British government will lower the country’s gas tax to consumers by a penny a litre.

The new tax will hit the bottom line of oil companies operating in the North Sea as these companies can expect their tax on production to grow from 50% to 62%. The effects of this announcement were felt by Canadian companies with North Sea interests as shares fell in Nexen Inc., Suncor Energy Inc., Talisman Energy Inc. and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.

This move by the British government has stirred speculation about copycat measures around the world as political leaders seek to dip into high crude prices.
 

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The London School of Economics and the American Bar Association's Standing Committee of Environmental Law will be hosting a conference Participating in the New Green Economy: The Challenge of Climate Change and the Opportunities for Clean Energy May 23-24 in London.

The conference will discuss the intersection of climate change policy and politics, and the incentives, economics, and finance for clean energy and go beyond how to navigate the complexities of policy and regulations to explore of opportunities available in a global green economy.

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After conducting a five-year application process and having received approval from the Federal Cabinet, the National Energy Board granted a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity to the Mackenzie Gas Project.

The project includes the 1,196-kilometre Mackenzie Valley Pipeline, which would transport 1.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day from the Beaufort Sea to northern Alberta.  As well, the project will involve the development of three onshore natural gas fields and the construction of a 457-kilometre NGL pipeline linking Inuvik, NWT to Normal Wells, NWT and other related facilities.

Imperial Oil, the lead proponent of the project, now estimates Mackenzie's costs to be $16.6 billion.  The Imperial-led consortium, which includes Exxon Mobil Corp., ConocoPhillips, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, and the Aboriginal Pipeline Group, has until the end of 2013 to decide whether to proceed with the project.

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Lawyers Eric Bremermann and Matthew Cameron attended the 4th Annual Canadian German Solar PV Conference this past week hosted by the Canadian German Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Kitchener, Ontario.  The conference was attended by various developers, manufactures and service providers in the solar and renewable energy market with interests in Canada, Europe and the U.S.

Eric was a panelist in the opening plenary discussion on opportunities and challenges in the Canadian solar market.  The panel focused primarily on the Ontario Feed-In Tariff Program and considered the effect of Ontario’s Long Term Energy Plan (which forecasts having 10,700 MW of non-hydro renewable power in the supply mix, and 1.5% of the total energy supply from solar, by 2018) on solar power’s future in Ontario, the benefits and risks of the FIT Program’s domestic content regime and the tremendous opportunity for all industry stakeholders in the development of the projects offered FIT Contracts by the Ontario Power Authority to date.

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Alberta's Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation (CCEMC) announced that it will invest $27.2 million in six industrial efficiency projects in the province. CCEMC receives monies from Alberta's Climate Change and Emissions Management Fund, a creation of the Climate Change and Emissions Management Act.

The organizations receiving funds from CCEMC are Cenovus Energy Inc., EnCana Corporation, ConocoPhillips Canada, NRGreen Power Limited, Weyerhaeuser Canada Limited and Quantiam Technologies.

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The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) has partnered with SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. in a bid for a part of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL). The pension fund is looking at AECL's commercial services division, which is a narrow portion of AECL's operations; leaving the federal government the option to operate or dispose of AECL's Chalk River, isotopes, waste and major research divisions if it so chooses.

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The federal government has announced its commitment to provide $52 million to 16 alternative energy projects across Canada through Sustainable Development Technology Canada. The funding is part of a series of investments totalling nearly $64 million to support renewable and clean energy.

The projects include a $9.2 million investment in a wind farm development in Digby County, Nova Scotia, and a $2.79 million wind power storage demonstration project located near Regina.

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