About

The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) is the single regulatory agency for energy development in the province of Alberta, being responsible for ensuring regulation of the production, exploration and development of Alberta’s oil sands, coal resources, and natural gas. Environmental protection is the regulator’s main task and its remit includes managing water resources, public land and other environmental protections. The in-house legal department of AER is led by Charlene Graham, executive vice president of the law branch and general counsel, who has over 20 years’ experience in environmental law. The team provides legal advice to the agency as well as drafts legislation, regulations, directives and other regulatory documents administered by the AER, as well as liaise with the Alberta Public Agencies Secretariat. In the last year, the AER legal team has been involved in many important cases including the Syncrude decision in January 2019 which ordered Syncrude to pay C$2.75m in federal and provincial penalties, as it was found liable for the deaths of 31 great blue herons at its Mildred Lake oil sands mine in August 2015. Additionally, the team won the case against Nexen in July 2018 for violations under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act, the Public Lands Act and the Fisheries Act in relation to its spillage of 5,000 cubic metres of bitumen emulsion at its Fort McMurray facility.