Browsing by Author "Kennett, Steven A."
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- ItemOpen AccessAlberta's Oil and Gas Boom Fuels Land-Use Conflicts – But Should the EUB be Taking the Heat?(Canadian Institute of Resources Law, 2005) Kennett, Steven A.; Wenig, Michael M.The Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) is at the centre of a growing 'storm' of land-use conflicts arising from oil and gas activities. The public typically looks to the EUB to resolve those conflicts, because of the EUB's role as the province's primary regulator of oil and gas operations. However, the EUB is poorly suited to handling this role because: (1) there is a lack of adequate, high level policy and planning to guide the EUB's decisions; (2) the EUB's 'public interest' determinations are skewed by Alberta Energy's issuance of mineral rights; and (3) the EUB lacks authority to manage the cumulative effects of all activities on all types of land bases. For these reasons, the public should look to Cabinet and the Legislature, as well as the EUB, for resolution of land use conflicts.
- ItemOpen AccessAnd Now for the Hard Part – Lessons for the NRCB from the Three Sisters Wildlife Corridor Saga(Canadian Institute of Resources Law, 2005) Kennett, Steven A.The requirement that wildlife movement corridors be maintained across the Three Sisters property has been a major source of controversy since the Natural Resources Conservation Board (NRCB) issued its project approval in 1992. This article describes the origins and evolution of this controversy and presents recommendations for strengthening the implementation process for NRCB decisions.
- ItemOpen AccessBook Review – "Unnatural Law: Rethinking Canadian Environmental Law and Policy by David R. Boyd"(Canadian Institute of Resources Law, 2003) Kennett, Steven A.
- ItemOpen AccessCapitalizing on Canada's "Green Advantage": Legal and Regulatory Components of Biosphere Greenhouse Gas Management(Canadian Institute of Resources Law, 2002) Kennett, Steven A.The announcement of Canada’s intention to ratify the Kyoto Protocol will result in increased attention to strategies for reducing net greenhouse gas emissions. Biosphere greenhouse gas management is a three-pronged climate change strategy that involves increasing carbon sequestration through biological sinks, preserving existing stores of terrestrial carbon, and producing biomass as a substitute for fossil fuel. This paper reviews briefly the rationale for biosphere greenhouse gas management and describes the emerging international legal regime. The place of this strategy within recent policy papers issued by the federal and Alberta governments is then noted. Finally, the paper highlights four areas where legal and regulatory measures have a role to play in implementing biosphere greenhouse gas management.
- ItemOpen AccessThe Castle – A Litmus Test for Alberta's ‘Commitment’ to Sustainable Resource and Environmental Management(Canadian Institute of Resources Law, 2003) Kennett, Steven A.
- ItemOpen AccessChange to Believe In: A Legal Checklist for Alberta's Land-Use Framework(Canadian Institute of Resources Law, 2009) Kennett, Steven A.
- ItemOpen AccessA Checklist for Evaluating Alberta’s New Land-Use Initiatives(Canadian Institute of Resources Law, 2006) Kennett, Steven A.This article proposes a checklist for evaluating the likelihood that recent policy initiatives launched by the Government of Alberta will be successful in addressing the province’s pressing land-use issues. The checklist consists of eight questions that highlight the requirements for successful land-use initiatives. Issues addressed include the focus of these initiatives on the management of cumulative environmental effects, their ability to deliver integrated landscape management, and their implementation through land-use planning and the establishment of regulatory limits on the total amount or intensity of the activities that are causing landscape-scale change.
- ItemOpen AccessClosing the Performance Gap: The Challenge for Cumulative Effects Management in Alberta's Athabasca Oil Sands Region(Canadian Institute of Resources Law, 2007) Kennett, Steven A.This paper comments on the origins and record of the multi-stakeholder Cumulative Environmental Management Association (CEMA) and the Regional Sustainable Development Strategy for the Athabasca Oil Sands Area, initiatives launched in the late 1990s to address the cumulative environmental effects of oil sands development in Alberta. There is clear evidence of a growing gap between expectations regarding these initiatives and their performance. Opportunities for closing this gap include improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of CEMA, a stronger role for the Government of Alberta in providing leadership and support, and attention to underlying obstacles to cumulative effects management.
- ItemOpen AccessCumulative Effects Assessment and the Cheviot Project: What's Wrong with this Picture?(Canadian Institute of Resoruces Law, 1999) Kennett, Steven A.
- ItemOpen AccessCuring Environmental Dis-Integration: A Prescription for Integrating the Government of Alberta's Strategic Initiatives(Pembina Institute, 2008-04) Droitsch, Danielle; Kennett, Steven A.; Woynillowicz, Dan
- ItemOpen AccessEnvironmental Assessment in Alberta Meets the Rule of Law(Canadian Institute of Resources Law, 1995) Kennett, Steven A.
- ItemOpen AccessThe Environmental Management Framework Agreement: Reforming Federalism in Post-Referendum Canada(Canadian Institute of Resources Law, 1995) Kennett, Steven A.
- ItemOpen AccessThe ERCB's Whaleback Decision: All Clear on the Eastern Slopes?(Canadian Institute of Resources Law, 1994) Kennett, Steven A.
- ItemOpen AccessThe Future For Cumulative Effects Management: Beyond the Environmental Assessment Paradigm(Canadian Institute of Resources Law, 2000) Kennett, Steven A.
- ItemOpen AccessIn Search of Public Land Law in Alberta(Canadian Institute of Resources Law, 1998) Kennett, Steven A.; Ross, Monique M.Public land management has been the subject of much debate in Alberta, a province richly endowed with natural resources and heavily dependent on a variety of land and resource uses for its economic well-being. Over time, with the pace of development increasing, this debate has become more acrimonious. At issue are fundamental values and interests and critical policy and institutional choices that will affect the long-term ecological, economic and social sustainability of Alberta's land and resource base. This paper is intended to contribute to the discussion of legal and policy options for public land management in Alberta. The analysis is based on two premises: (1) there is a critical need for an integrated approach to managing the public domain; and (2) law has a fundamental role to play in structuring decision-making regarding the use of public land and resources. The objective is to assess the extent to which Alberta's land and resource legislation provides a solid legal basis for an integrated approach to public land management. To this end, a template for integrated public land law is used as the standard against which legislation is evaluated.
- ItemOpen AccessIntegrated Landscape Management in Canada: Getting from Here to There(Canadian Institute of Resources Law, 2006) Kennett, Steven A.Integrated landscape management (ILM) has been proposed as means of overcoming the fragmentation and incrementalism in decision-making that present virtually insurmountable obstacles to cumulative effects management across much of Canada and in other jurisdictions worldwide. In common with concepts such as integrated resource management and ecosystem-based management, ILM adopts a holistic and forward-looking approach to managing the land and resource uses that may affect ecological, social, cultural and economic values. The analysis and practical examples presented in this paper are intended to provide specific guidance for moving forward with the implementation of ILM.
- ItemOpen AccessIntegrated Resource Management in Alberta: Past, Present and Benchmarks for the Future(Canadian Institute of Resources Law, 2002) Kennett, Steven A.Integrated resource management (IRM) is currently being promoted in Alberta in response to resource-use conflicts and the challenges relating to cumulative environmental effects. The Alberta government's ongoing IRM initiative was launched in 1999. An important component of that initiative has been the development of "regional strategies" in two areas of the province. The release in January 2002 of a draft provincial framework for regional strategies marks an important advance for IRM. If approved and implemented, this framework will lead to additional regional strategies across Alberta. This paper argues that the history of IRM in Alberta provides some important lessons that are directly relevant to the current IRM initiative.
- ItemOpen AccessIs British Columbia Leading the Way in Natural Resources Management? Part I: The Commission on Resources and Environment(Canadian Institute of Resources Law, 1992) Kennett, Steven A.
- ItemOpen AccessIssues and Options for Intergovernmental Cooperation in Environmental Impact Assessment(Canadian Institute of Resources Law, 1992) Kennett, Steven A.
- ItemOpen AccessIt May Be Wrong, But Is It Illegal? – Castle-Crown Wilderness Coalition v. Flett and the Limits of Discretionary Decision-making(Canadian Institute of Resources Law, 2004) Kennett, Steven A.This article comments on Castle-Crown Wilderness Coalition v. Flett, a recent case concerning the expansion of Castle Mountain Resort in southwestern Alberta. The court’s reasons for quashing decisions by a senior official and a Minister have important implications for discretionary decision-making within Alberta’s environmental assessment regime.