NEB announces end to environmental assessments for most projects

The National Energy Board issued a letter yesterday confirming that projects that previously required an environmental screening assessment will no longer require an environmental assessment under the CEAA legislation.  This change comes as a result of the 2012 Budget legislation, which repealed the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and replaced it with a new CEAA, 2012.

Environmental screenings were the lowest level of environmental assessment required under the CEAA legislation.  Screenings applied to pipeline projects where no more than 75 km of pipe was "new pipeline", meaning pipeline that is not adjacent to an existing utility corridor or year-round all-weather road.  Most pipeline projects were configured to fall within the screening category and it can be expected that this will continue so as to avoid any requirement for assessment under CEAA, 2012.

Read the NEB letter at: July 16, 2012.

Alberta Court of Appeal upholds landowner's right to terminate easement

In January of this year, I posted a blog about an interesting case in Alberta concerning the right of a landowner to terminate a utility easement agreement (Alberta Court Rules in Favour of Landowner).  The land in question had been owned originally by the CPR, which had a right to terminate the right of way of the utility.  The lands were transferred to the current owner, who then gave notice of termination to the utility.  The Alberta Court of Queen's Bench decided that the right to terminate could be assigned to the new landowner and that the right could be exercised.

In a recent decision, the Alberta Court of Appeal has agreed.  The Court of Appeal agreed that the agreements were not personal contracts, and were validly assigned to the new owner (Remington Development) including the right to terminate.  The Court rejected the utility's argument that the easements were actually only licenses that could not be assigned; it found that even if the agreements were licenses, they could be assigned. 

With the decision, the utility has no land rights to maintain its power transmission operation on the lands in question.  It will either have to obtain a further agreement from the landowner or attempt to expropriate the rights through the applicable regulatory process.

Read the decision at: Remington Development Corp. v. Enmax Power.

Edmonton Journal: "AltaLink's wallet soothes landowners"

AltaLink's wallet soothes landowners

The Edmonton Journal has reported that landowners along a planned high-voltage direct current line have been "soothed" by talk of increased compensation. The lines will run between 50-metre high towers, and AltaLink, the utility company, is offering to pay an annual fee to landowners of $1,178 for each tower on cultivated land and $471 for each tower on uncultivated land.

There is an additional lump sum to be paid for the 55-metre wide right-of-way (contrast this with the fairly standard 18-20 metre wide easement for oil and gas pipelines) along with a crop loss payment, entry fee payment and a $10,000 bonus for signing the easement.

However, the final route for the line has not yet been decided and an application to the Alberta Utilities Commission won't be made until later in 2010 or early in 2011.

What do you think about the proposed compensation? Although AltaLink's Vice-President is cited in the article as saying that a 240-kV tower would previously have brought only $150 to $200 compensation, for the size of the easement taken and the impact, visual and otherwise, of a major transmission line and towers through a farm, the annual payment seems unremarkable - at least when compared with similar payments for oil and gas wells and other above ground oil and gas facilities.