In
Hanna v. MOE, what did the Decisional Court decide about
the legal status of the Ministry of the Environment Statement of
Environmental Values? Not much, in my opinion.
At paragraph 14, the court described the issues as follows:
Was the minister required to comply with section 11 of the
Environment Bill of Rights [which refers to the Statement of
Environmental Values] as a condition precedent to his decision to
recommend promulgation of the regulation? Did he do so?
At paragraph 31, they added a third question:
If he did not comply with the mandated process, the court
would have to decide if the failure to do so means he acted without
lawful authority.
In my view, the court didn't answer either questions 1 or 3.
They didn't have to, because it was so clear that the minister
had complied with his SEV when deciding whether to propose the
Renewable Energy regulation, including the 550 m setback for wind
turbines. The courts have a long tradition of deciding
