Public Interest Standing at Environmental Boards and Tribunals

Summary

This is a research, law reform, and education project on public participation in environmental decision making. It aims to advance public interest standing at administrative boards and tribunals that consider the environment in determining public interest. This project will increase the legal knowledge of public interest advocates and identify where and how changes could be made in Alberta. The intended impact is to broaden standing for environmental matters in Alberta and to produce legal resources for use in other Canadian provinces.

Grant Outputs

Letter to the Honourable Ted Morton Re: Standing at Administrative boards and tribunals in Alberta – http://elc.ab.ca/Content_Files/Files/standingELCJan24_12.pdf

The ELC’s preliminary recommendation for Alberta is to create one consistent test for standing at all administrative agencies that process legal environmental claims. The test should be that parties demonstrate a “genuine interest” in the substantive subject matter of the decision. Parties granted standing should not have their standing contested at subsequent stages or in other proceedings on the same subject. The benefits accruing from this single test would include better information for decision makers and better oversight of decisions, which in turn would produce better decisions with greater public approval.