"Alberta Broke Law by Keeping Oil Lobbying Records Secret For Years"

"Alberta Energy terminated the contract of the person preparing the release of records of its meetings with lobbyists from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. Then the ministry said it didn’t have enough staff to handle the request".

"Seven hundred and ninety-nine days. That’s how long it took for the Alberta government to respond to a simple request for information.

In the summer of 2020, I was trying to figure out what prompted the Alberta Energy Regulator to unilaterally suspend dozens of environmental and economic rules imposed on oil and gas companies — without any public consultations or formal review.

Normally, there’s a paper trail for any major regulatory decision. At least, there should be a paper trail for how decisions are made in a country that — according to industry — has the “most stringent environmental regulations in the world.”"

Mike De Souza reports for The Narwhal December 22, 2022.

 

Source: The Narwhal, 12/23/2022