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LEGAL REPORT/ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL LAW Alberta shaping up as Canada's new BY JEAN SORENSEN B ritish Columbia used to always be in the glare of the media when it came to battles of the envi- ronment, but today it is oil-rich Alberta grabbing headlines as environmental law groups, lawyers, and government clash. At the heart of the ongoing debate — with cases even landing in Alberta's Court of Appeal — is the inability of public interest groups to gain standing before provincial tri- bunals or regulatory bodies, which play a role in hearing public concerns. Barry Robinson, Calgary-based staff lawyer for Ecojustice, says: "Standing issues here are actually bizarre." Even more so are the lengths that groups have gone to to gain status before such tribunals, which, under current leg- islation, only need to hear concerns from members of the public directly affected by a resource or land-use proposal. Simon Dyer, policy director with the Pembina Institute, says his group along with the Fort McMurray Environmental Association and the Toxics Watch Society of Alberta had to acquire a recreational lease on the MacKay River from local Métis in order to gain standing before tribunals to voice concerns regarding oilsands issues. Robinson gives another example. He is currently writing to the Alberta Environmental Appeals Board on stand- ing over a water licence amendment grant- ed by Alberta Environment. Of the 72 statements-of-concern put forward over the licence, only four were granted stand- ing at the hearings. Robinson says while the Alberta courts have accepted a "public interest" test in hearings before it, judges have still generally supported provincial legislation, which restricts the tribunals to those directly affected. But the door is cracking open as Alberta courts seek to establish some measure of balance. The case driving the issue is that of Susan Kelly and neighbours, who like many Albertans are often landowners battling the oil industry. Kelly and two neighbours were denied standing before the Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) as their properties were not within the board's designated three- kilometre boundary affected by the drill- ing of two wells by Grizzly Resources Ltd. At issue were possible sour gas leaks www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com A PRIL 2011 51 ec o battlefield ALEXI VELLA