More than 14 months after hearing Alberta’s challenge to the federal government’s Impact Assessment Act, the province’s court of appeal has yet to render a decision, leaving industry players on “pins and needles” over a ruling that could have a major impact on the regulation of Alberta energy projects and the constitutional division of powers related to environmental and resource regulation.
In its 2020-21 annual report, Alberta’s Ministry of Justice and Solicitor General had predicted that the Alberta Court of Appeal (ACA) ruling, was expected in the fall of 2021, but that deadline has long passed.
The Impact Assessment Act (IAA), which received royal assent in 2019 and which critics have dubbed the “No More Pipelines Act,” established an Impact Assessment Agency for new projects with criteria for approval that include an energy investment project’s climate change, social and gender parity implications. The legislation also requires regulators to consider the cumulative effect of a project when combined with other projects.
No comments:
Post a Comment