20 LEXPERT
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2019
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WWW.LEXPERT.CA
Keough, Loyola G. Bennett Jones LLP
(403) 298-3429 keoughl@bennettjones.com
Mr. Keough is a partner in the firm's Regulatory/Environmental Department.
He has particular experience in oil, gas, electricity, LNG, rates, facilities
and environmental matters. His clients include utilities, project proponents,
pipelines, producers, buyers, shippers and financial institutions.
Kennedy, Jennifer K. Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP
(403) 267-8188 jennifer.kennedy@nortonrosefulbright.com
Ms. Kennedy's practice focuses on corporate and securities law matters, with
a focus on public and private financings, mergers & acquisitions, corporate re-
organizations and related-party transactions. She has acted for issuers, selling
shareholders, independent committees of boards of directors and investment
dealers in a variety of debt and equity capital market transactions.
Keen, Matthew Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP
(604) 641-4913 matthew.keen@nortonrosefulbright.com
Mr. Keen is an energy and environmental lawyer whose practice spans the
interrelated areas of energy regulation (including tolls and tariffs, and project
development), environmental assessment, environmental permitting and com-
pliance, and Indigenous law. He regularly appears before a variety of tribunals
on behalf of clients and leads our national power team.
Keays, Ryan W. Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP
(403) 267-9523 ryan.keays@nortonrosefulbright.com
Mr. Keays practises primarily in the area of energy and resources, but also
focuses on business law and corporate and commercial law. He advises
clients on a broad range of corporate and commercial matters, with
a specific focus on the energy sector, both domestically and internationally.
Junger, Robin M. McMillan LLP
(778) 329-7523 robin.junger@mcmillan.ca
Mr. Junger advises clients on environmental, Aboriginal and regulatory mat-
ters, and has helped proponents of energy, infrastructure and other major
projects secure approvals. He previously served as BC's Deputy Minister of
Energy, Mines & Petroleum Resources, Chair of the BC Oil & Gas Commission,
head of the BC Environmental Assessment Office and a Provincial Chief
Treaty Negotiator.
Johnston, Chip Lawson Lundell LLP
(403) 218-7574 cjohnston@lawsonlundell.com
Mr. Johnston is a partner in Lawson Lundell's Calgary office. His practice fo-
cuses on M&A and equity financings. He has particular expertise representing
energy growth capital, both for investors and managers. He believes that the
legal industry has a duty to improve the quality of service while reducing its
cost. He works with clients that have the same values.
LEXPERT-RANKED LAWYERS
creation of the Impact Assessment Agency that
will oversee project evaluations. It also replaces
the National Energy Board with a new Cana-
dian Energy Regulator; and an amended federal
environmental assessments process will see a new
Ottawa-based Impact Assessment Agency review
a range of environmental impacts.
e Canadian Association of Petroleum Pro-
ducers, for one, expressed concern that the pro-
posed legislation would create greater regulatory
uncertainty and litigation risk. Denstedt agrees.
"Bill C-69, even with the amendments, in my
view, will not solve the uncertainty
issue in relation to environmental as-
sessment; it may make it worse," he
says. e Bill eviscerates the expertise
available under the Calgary-based
National Energy Board for regulat-
ing energy projects by separating the
environmental review from the NEB's
mandate, he believes.
"e problem with that separation
is the people who are best equipped to
understand the impacts of energy de-
velopment are no longer charged with
that obligation."
e National Energy Board was cre-
ated as an expert regulator to under-
stand and regulate all aspects of the
energy business, from economic to en-
vironmental to safety to social aspects,
says Denstedt, "and by separating those functions
we're doing the opposite of what sustainable de-
velopment really means, which is to integrate
those [environmental] considerations into deci-
sion-making processes."
Under Bill C-69, a new Impact Assessment
Agency will look at the environmental assess-
ment of a project, and the National Energy Board
will then look "at the energy side of it," says Den-
stedt; "so you've … pulled those two pieces apart."
e potential for larger fines has also increased
significantly in environmental prosecutions,
particularly under the Fisheries Act and the Mi-
gratory Birds Convention Act (MBCA), since
increased penalties were introduced in 2013 and
2017, says Brad Gilmour, a partner at Bennett
Jones LLP in Calgary.
"e trend over the last decade is upward in
terms of increasing inspections, prosecutions and
amendments to legalization to increase penal-
ties," Gilmour says. Under the two Acts noted
above, maximum fines have increased significant-
ly, he adds; for example, if the Crown chooses to
proceed summarily for a second offence, the fines
could reach as high as $8 million, with the poten-
tial to multiply by the number of days an environ-
mental incident is not successfully managed.
e trend has crystallized into considering
