Page 16 - NorthAmOil Week 26

NorthAmOil POLICY NorthAmOil

Alberta extends investigation into

foreign funding of oil opponents

ALBERTA THE government of Alberta has extended an development. Indeed, the environmental law
investigation into whether foreign money is being firm Ecojustice has attempted to strike down the
used to fund anti-oil protests in the province. inquiry in court through legal action.
Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage said last CBC News reported last week that the word-
week that the initial findings from the inquiry’s ing in the terms of reference for the inquiry was
commissioner, Steve Allan, showed that more tweaked when Savage extended the deadline for
work was needed to complete the final report. the investigation to acknowledge the possibility
As a result, the deadline has been extended that there might have been no foreign funding
to October 30, from July 2 previously. An addi- at all. The terms now state that the “commis-
tional CAD1mn ($736,000) was also allocated to sioner shall inquire into the role of foreign fund-
the existing investigation budget of CAD2.5mn ing, if any, in anti-Alberta energy campaigns”.
($1.8mn). The cash will be diverted from the Originally, they said: “the commissioner shall
budget of the Canadian Energy Centre – known inquire into anti-Alberta energy campaigns that
as Alberta’s “energy war room” – established by are supported, in whole or in part, by foreign
the ruling United Conservative Party (UCP) fol- organisations”.
lowing an election pledge in order to help pro- Some other tweaks to the wording have also
mote the province’s energy industry. been made.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has said he Savage’s press secretary, Kavi Bal, said the
believes foreign backers are funding domestic changes to the terms of reference were made for
protesters in a bid to undermine Alberta’s oil and “legal clarity and consistency”, adding they were
gas industry. However, critics of the inquiry have not based on findings presented in the interim
argued that rather than fact-finding, Allan is out report. “Government would not be approving
to prove a pre-determined conclusion, which further work on due diligence if there was no
they say is harming the reputations of those who indication or reason to conduct this work,” Bal
legitimately and lawfully question oil and gas told CBC News.™

District of Columbia files latest climate

change lawsuit against oil companies

DISTRICT OF DISTRICT of Columbia Attorney General Karl judge ruled that the company had not defrauded
COLUMBIA Racine filed a lawsuit last week against Exxon- investors out of up to $1.6bn by hiding the true
Mobil, Chevron, BP and Royal Dutch Shell. The cost of climate change regulation.
lawsuit accuses the companies of “systematically Other climate change lawsuits have been filed
and intentionally misleading” consumers about in California and Massachusetts. And last week,
the role their products play in causing climate Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed
change. It is the latest of several legal actions by a lawsuit against the American Petroleum Insti-
an attorney general in a US state against the oil tute (API), ExxonMobil and Koch Industries,
and gas industry. which, like the District of Columbia lawsuit,
“The defendants violated the District’s con- focuses on consumer protection. The Minnesota
sumer protection law by concealing the fact that lawsuit accuses the defendants of violating state
using fossil fuels threatens the health of District laws barring consumer fraud, deceptive trade
residents and the environment,” Racine said in a practices and false advertising.
statement. He added that the intent of the legal Racine told reporters on June 25 that his
action was to “end these disinformation cam- office had only learnt of Minnesota’s lawsuit
paigns and to hold these companies accountable when it was filed and had been preparing its own
for their deceptive practices”. long before that.
The lawsuit comes as states, cities and envi- Reuters cited spokespeople for ExxonMo-
ronmental groups step up efforts to hold oil bil and Chevron as questioning the merit of
and gas producers accountable for the role their Racine’s case. The Chevron spokesperson, as
output plays in climate change. One particularly well as one from Shell, also said such lawsuits
prominent lawsuit in New York ended in a vic- are detrimental to meaningful efforts to address
tory for ExxonMobil in December 2019, when a climate change.™

P16 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 26 02•July•2020