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The Brutal Legal Odyssey of Jessica Ernst Comes to an End

May 18, 2021

The Brutal Legal Odyssey of Jessica Ernst Comes to an End

The Alberta landowner fought an epic battle against fracking interests.

JessicaErnstFrackingWaterLegalBattle.jpg
Jessica Ernst became a high-profile critic of hydraulic fracturing, injecting liquid at high pressure to force loose oil and gas out. ‘The system dismissed my case, but I don’t think I lost in the court of public opinion.’ Photo by Colin Smith.

After 14 years of battling Alberta regulators and the fracking industry over a water well contaminated with methane and chemicals, Jessica Ernst says she feels incalculable grief and anger.

On April 1, 2021, her tortuous legal crusade — which included a controversial detour to the Supreme Court of Canada — came to an end with no resolution. What one Alberta lawyer dubbed “the legal saga of the decade” is over.

Court of Queen’s Bench Judge J.T. Eamon accepted applications from Encana and the Alberta government to dismiss the case due to inactivity on the file for three years.

“It was inevitable,” says Ernst who was informed three weeks after the dismissal. “The rules are the rules.”

After Toronto lawyers Murray Klippenstein and Cory Wanless quit the case in August 2018 without warning, Ernst was left hanging.

“My lawyers knew I couldn’t find a replacement lawyer in Alberta when they quit,” said Ernst. “They even wrote me that and added that I would fail as a self-represented litigant.”

She not only had no lawyer, but incomplete legal files to work with, Ernst says. Klippenstein told The Tyee in 2019 that he would return them to Ernst, but she maintains his firm only returned some correspondence but not the complete files. And so the lawsuit languished.

Although Ernst tried to find another lawyer, she says that she couldn’t find a suitable candidate for various reasons, including conflict of interest. Most big law firms do business in or with the oil patch.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Come Listen to the Man Fracking Powers Tried to Silence

January 18, 2016

Come Listen to the Man Fracking Powers Tried to Silence

Why you should spend Thursday, Jan. 28, with Andrew Nikiforuk. A special Tyee event.

Andrew Nikiforuk

On Jan. 28, Andrew Nikiforuk has some knowledge to share.

On Jan. 28, in Vancouver, you have the opportunity to spend an evening with Andrew Nikiforuk, one the finest journalists, one of the finest minds, one the most courageous and public spirited people I have ever met.

If you are a regular reader of The Tyee you probably recognize Andrew’s byline. But you may not know of his new book on fracking in Canada with a fascinating, real-life hero at the centre of it.

You also may not know how hostile a place Canada can be for a journalist as effective as Andrew Nikiforuk.

And before you buy a ticket for the “Standing up to Fracking” Jan. 28 event, you’d probably like to know more about what will be discussed.

So I thought I’d quickly fill you in on all that here.

Andrew first met Alberta landowner and oil patch consultant Jessica Ernst in 2004 while reporting for the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business on “unconventional” energy sources — like fracked gas. It wasn’t until the next year that the harm fracking can do became personal for Ernst. She’d discovered groundwater contamination on her own land 113 kilometres northeast of Calgary, and Andrew returned to write about that for Canadian Business.

He couldn’t believe the level of fraud she had documented or how the Alberta Energy Regulator had banished all communication from her to thwart her efforts. In fact her story about pollution eerily previewed the trouble and controversy fracking would later cause across the continent.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

In Supreme Court, a Battle Over Fracking and Citizens’ Rights

January 13, 2016

In Supreme Court, a Battle Over Fracking and Citizens’ Rights

Jessica Ernst’s long fight to challenge legislation putting energy regulator above the law reaches top court.

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Jessica Ernst on her land in Alberta. Photo: Colin Smith.

After years of legal wrangling, Jessica Ernst and Alberta’s powerful energy regulator finally squared off in the Supreme Court of Canada yesterday.

For almost two hours, all nine justices questioned lawyers from both sides in a case that will determine if legislation can grant government agencies blanket immunity from lawsuits based on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

At times the debate was so bogged down in legal jargon and little known cases that it felt as though the participants were holding a conversation in a foreign language.

STANDING UP TO FRACKING: A TYEE EVENT

Join The Tyee and acclaimed energy journalist and author Andrew Nikiforuk for a special evening on fracking. Nikiforuk will survey the latest energy battleground and discuss his new book, Slick Water, which centres around Jessica Ernst’s landmark case. The event takes place Jan. 28 in Vancouver. Find further details and ticket information here.

But the heart of the matter remained simple: Can a regulator prevent a citizen from suing it for damages when the citizen feels their charter rights have been violated?

Ernst alleges the Alberta Energy Regulator violated her rights by characterizing her as a “criminal threat” and barring all communication with her.

The claims are part of her multipronged lawsuit related to the regulation of fracking. She says fracking contaminated aquifers near her homestead near Rosebud, about 110 kilometres east of Calgary, and is seeking $33 million in damages.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Charter Rights at Issue in Fracking Supreme Court Case

January 8, 2016

Charter Rights at Issue in Fracking Supreme Court Case

Jessica Ernst’s long battle over rights, well contamination reaches highest court Tuesday.

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Jessica Ernst stands in front of Encana compressors in Rosebud, Alberta. Photo by Tor Lundberg Tuorda.

An Alberta woman’s landmark eight-year battle over fracking regulation, water contamination and Charter rights will take centre stage in the Supreme Court of Canada Tuesday.

Jessica Ernst claims fracking contaminated the water supply at her homestead near Rosebud, about 110 kilometres east of Calgary. She is seeking $33 million in damages.

Ernst is also taking on the agency that regulates the energy industry in Alberta, claiming it has denied her the right to raise her concerns effectively and is shielded by unconstitutional legislation that bar citizens from suing it for wrongdoing.

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the David Asper Centre for Constitutional Law at the University of Toronto have intervened in support of Ernst’s position and the lawsuit could change the way the controversial technology of hydraulic fracturing is regulated in Canada.

Ernst’s lawyers hope the Supreme Court will eventually rule that the Alberta Energy Regulator violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by limiting her ability to communicate with the agency.

Such a decision would punt Ernst’s case back into Alberta’s courts where it can continue its slow course. Ernst considers the regulator the most at fault in her famous and multi-pronged lawsuit.

In a “factum” prepared for the Supreme Court, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association argues that immunity clauses for regulators are an affront to government accountability and a licence to abuse power.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Fracking Regulation on Trial in Andrew Nikiforuk’s ‘Slick Water’

November 16, 2015

Fracking Regulation on Trial in Andrew Nikiforuk’s ‘Slick Water’

Ahead of Vancouver Island book tour, author surveys Canada’s latest energy battleground.

Andrew Nikiforuk, journalist

Andrew Nikiforuk’s new book, Slick Water: Fracking and One Insider’s Stand Against the World’s Most Powerful Industry, is in stores now.

Tyee readers are likely well acquainted with Jessica Ernst, the oil patch scientist and landowner defiantly challenging the regulation of fracking in Canada.

Known for standing up to one of the most powerful industries on the planet, eight years ago Ernst sued gas driller Encana and Alberta’s energy regulators, claiming contamination of the well water in her rural backyard and the failure of government authorities to investigate.

Ernst’s suit also alleges a provincial regulator breached her charter rights by refusing to communicate with her after she publicly criticized it.

Now Ernst’s story, which has earned followers on three continents, is the subject of a new book by journalist Andrew Nikiforuk, who has covered developments in Ernst’s case for this website.

Slick Water: Fracking and One Insider’s Stand Against the World’s Most Powerful Industry, published this fall by Greystone Books, blends Ernst’s compelling personal tale and long legal saga — still ongoing today — with the story of fracking and its human and environmental impacts.

It concludes Nikiforuk’s trilogy on the oil and gas industry in Alberta, which includes 2002’s Saboteurs and 2010’s Tar Sands, a winner of the Rachel Carson Environment Book Award.

In the words of New Yorker environmental journalist Elizabeth Kolbert, Slick Water is “a true-life noir filled with corruption, incompetence, and, ultimately, courage.” More specifically, Nikiforuk says, it is a story about “the courage of women.”

This Wednesday, Nov. 18, Nikiforuk embarks on a two-week book tour that will include five stops on Vancouver Island and one on Salt Spring Island. Find a full list of dates and locations in this story’s sidebar.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Supreme Court Rejects Argument to Dismiss Landmark Fracking Case

July 1, 2015

Supreme Court Rejects Argument to Dismiss Landmark Fracking Case

Jessica Ernst’s charter claim hearing slated for 2016.

The Supreme Court of Canada has rejected a motion by the country’s most powerful energy regulator that Jessica Ernst’s case involving fracking and groundwater contamination raises no significant constitutional claim and should be dismissed.

Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin ruled that the case raised a significant constitutional question on whether or not an “immunity clause” in the regulator’s legislation placed it above the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Is the regulator’s immunity clause, asked McLachlin in her June 25th ruling “constitutionally inapplicable or inoperable to the extent that it bars a claim against the regulator for a breach of” the Charter of Rights and Freedoms?

But Glenn Solomon, counsel for the Alberta Energy Regulator, argued in submissions to the court that “no constitutional question should be stated in the present matter.”

After the Supreme Court agreed to hear the charter case last April, it required lawyers representing Jessica Ernst to clearly state the question and Solomon to agree on the wording.

But Solomon told Ernst’s lawyers that “We will not be able to agree on a constitutional question.”

 

The Alberta Energy Regulator’s obstruction cost Ernst more time and money, but she is satisfied with McLachlin’s ruling and definition of the final constitutional question.

“If energy regulators can violate our charter rights, there will be no protection for citizens living in areas where industry is fracking for hydrocarbons,” Ernst told The Tyee.

Fracking damage alleged

Hydraulic fracturing, a technology described by industry as a combination of “brute force and ignorance,” injects highly pressurized fluids into shallow and deep formations with the goal of splitting open rock as dense as concrete to release small amounts of oil and gas over vast distances.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

 

 

Landmark Fracking Case Gets a Supreme Court Hearing

May 1, 2015

Landmark Fracking Case Gets a Supreme Court Hearing

Oil patch consultant Jessica Ernst alleges Alberta has intimidated landowners.

The Supreme Court of Canada said today that it will hear thelandmark case of Jessica Ernst, which squarely challenges how the Alberta government has treated landowners and regulated hydraulic fracturing.

The decision both stunned and exhilarated the 57-year-old Ernst.

“I’ve always known my case was important for water and all Canadians, that’s why I am taking this legal stand,” said Ernst who lives in Rosebud, Alberta.

“The court will now hear my appeal that provincial energy regulators not be legally immune from violating the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms when trying to intimidate citizens harmed by fracking,” added Ernst. Her stand against the industry and the Alberta government has made her a folk hero throughout North America and parts of Europe.

However, a win at the Supreme Court does not mean that she will win her lawsuit, explained Ernst to the Tyee. “It means I would be sent back to the lower court in Alberta to begin my lawsuit against the Alberta Energy Regulator. It means still a very long, hard, expensive journey.”

The Supreme Court only hears about four per cent of all civil Charter claims brought to its doorstep.

Eight years ago, oil patch consultant Ernst sued Alberta Environment, the Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) and Encana, one of Canada’s largest unconventional gas drillers, over the contamination of her well water with hydrocarbons and the failure of government authorities to properly investigate the fouling of groundwater.

 

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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