Science Will Decide Fate of Northern Gateway,
Federal Government Says
While British Columbia may have rejected it for now, the federal Conservative government says it still awaits a decision from the joint review panel examining the Northern Gateway project before it decides whether to approve the $6-billion oilsands pipeline. On Friday, in its final written submission to the federal review panel, the British Columbia government said it cannot support Enbridge's proposed Northern Gateway pipeline project as it stands because the company has failed to address environmental concerns about oil spills on land and at sea. The BC government, however, said its submission on Friday is not a death knell for the project, but sets a "high bar" for it to proceed. Read the Vancouver Sun article.

AME BC Releases Top Policy Issues and Recommendations Paper – 2013
The Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia released a paper intended to provide a high-level review of the top six policy issues facing British Columbia's mineral exploration and development sector in 2013, and to offer specific recommendations that government and industry can work on together in order to address the issues and implement policy measures that will position the sector for continued and successful growth in 2013 and beyond. AME BC members have determined the top priority issues for the BC mineral exploration community to be: Permitting & Environmental Assessment, Land Access & Use, Aboriginal Relations & Engagement, Taxation, Public Geoscience, and Human Resources. View the paper.

Better Oil Price Needed for Emissions Controls
to Work: Environment Minister
The ability of the oil and gas sector to absorb tough government controls on their greenhouse gas emissions depends on Canada getting a better price for its oil, Environment Minister Peter Kent says.

The extra revenue would allow companies to invest heavily in leading-edge technology that would curtail pollution, he said in an interview from London.

"What we have to do, one way or another, is get rid of the U.S. discount," Kent said. "That would certainly provide great latitude to invest in the technology….Keystone or not."

Government and industry have long eyed the proposed – but not yet approved – Keystone XL pipeline as a way to demand world prices for Canadian crude. View the full article in the Financial Post.

British Columbia v Canadian National Railway
The appellant, Her Majesty the Queen in Right of the Province of British Columbia (the "Province"), and the respondent, Canadian National Railway Company ("CNR"), appeared before the Forest Appeals Commission (the "Commission") in relation to a fire caused by a CNR train that destroyed 25,010.8 cubic metres of Crown timber (the "Timber").

The Wildfire Act, S.B.C. 2004, c. 31, the Wildfire Regulation, B.C. Reg. 157/2012, and the Forest Act R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 157, require a person who has damaged or destroyed Crown timber to pay to the Province an amount equal to the quantity of timber destroyed quantified at the rate of stumpage determined under the Forest Act by an appropriate government employee. In this case, an appropriate government employee assessed the value of the Timber at $254,680.38. CNR appealed that decision to the Commission. Read the full article by Joel Morris with Harper Grey LLP.