Imperial's Kearl plan hit with setback; Environmentalists applaud judge's decision

Toronto Star, May 15, 2008, A federal judge has handed Imperial Oil Ltd. a defeat in its efforts to move ahead with the $8 billion Kearl oilsands mine – a project environmentalists say would destroy huge tracts of boreal forest in Northern Alberta.

Imperial was in court last week fighting a federal government decision to revoke a key water permit.

Justice Douglas Campbell ruled the government lacked the proper jurisdiction to award the permit and dismissed the oil company's challenge.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans granted Imperial its water permit in February, based on a panel's environmental assessment done a year earlier.

But a few weeks later, another federal judge ruled that the Joint Review Panel gave Kearl the go-ahead without adequately explaining its rationale.

Since the government water permit was given on the basis of that panel's decision, the DFO declared its permit a "nullity" in a March 20 letter to Imperial.

Late last week, the panel put out an amended approval that contains more details about why it deemed Kearl's expected greenhouse gas emissions acceptable.

The updated report will be open to a public comment period and must be authorized by the federal government. Once that process wraps up in 30 days, Imperial could have its water permit reinstated.

Sean Nixon, a lawyer for EcoJustice who represents groups opposed to the Kearl development, said he was "pleased" with the judge's ruling.

"I think the court has confirmed here that the federal government's compliance with environmental laws trumps any inconvenience that compliance might cause to an oil company," he said in an interview.

The permit is central to Imperial's plans to drain a vast stretch of northern Alberta soil in preparation for the open-pit mine it estimates has 4.6 billion barrels of recoverable oil.