Appeal allowed: Supreme Court to decide how abandoned oil wells to be handled
OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada will hear an appeal from Alberta’s energy regulator that seeks to overturn a ruling that could allow bankrupt energy companies to walk away from cleaning up abandoned oil wells.
The decision could affect industrial sites across the country.
The question is whether a cleanup order from a provincial body is a legal obligation or a financial liability, says Nigel Bankes, dean of natural resources law at the University of Calgary.
“When a provincial regulator issues someone a cleanup order, under what circumstances is that just re-emphasizing an existing obligation or is it actually amounting to a provable claim in bankruptcy?” he said Thursday.