Alberta revives ‘turn-off-taps’ resources bill that sparked legal row with B.C.

EDMONTON – Alberta is reviving its so-called turn-off-the taps legislation, but with a few changes.

Environment Minister Jason Nixon says a proposed bill with revisions would be retroactive to May 1, when the previous act expired following a two-year sunset clause.

The original legislation was crafted by Alberta’s former NDP government and proclaimed as the first act of Premier Jason Kenney’s United Conservative government in April 2019.

It was to be used as a last resort against British Columbia to restrict the flow of oil and gas to that province in a dispute sparked by B.C.’s reluctance to co-operate with construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.