B.C. Supreme Court Upholds Recurring Short-Term Water Use Approvals

The B.C. Supreme Court has recently clarified the interpretation of section 8 of the B.C. Water Act. Section 8 relates to the power of the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission (OGC) to grant approvals to oil and gas companies for the short-term use of surface water bodies such as lakes, rivers, streams, and storage dugouts. Many oil and gas companies rely on section 8 approvals in various exploration and development activities.

In Western Canada Wilderness Committee v British Columbia (Oil and Gas Commission), 2014 BCSC 1919, Bennett Jones LLP acted on behalf of Encana Corporation and successfully opposed the argument advanced by litigant environmental groups that recurrent (or consecutive) use of section 8 approvals improperly permit companies to withdraw substantial volumes of surface water for fracking. In the result, the Court upheld the OGC short-term water use approvals on a recurrent basis. Importantly, the Court found the OGC's application of section 8 to be proper,