New Amendments to OGAA & PNG Act
The BC government recently introduced Bill 12, Natural Gas Development Statutes Amendment Act, 2014. This Bill affects the following resource-based Statutes:

Oil and Gas Activities Act (OGAA)
The amendments are intended to:

• allow industry to adopt new operational improvements;
• further define a landowner's right to appeal permits issued on private land and remove the risks associated with unnecessary appeals which could delay oil and gas development; and
• remove an exemption for a small number of legacy pipelines. Permits will be retroactively issued and the pipelines will continue to be subject to the requirements of the Act and compliance and enforcement actions by the BC Oil and Gas Commission.

Petroleum and Natural Gas Act (PNG Act)
Amendments are intended to:

• streamline the administration of natural gas and oil subsurface rights, creating a more consistent approach for all three tenure types – permits, leases and drilling licences. Fines will be updated so they align with penalties in other jurisdictions; and
• permit the Province to modernize tenure practices, and remove duplication with tenure-related laws.

BC Legislation Would Allow Oil and Energy companies
to conduct preliminary research in parks
Companies planning to build projects such as pipelines and transmission lines stand to receive permits to conduct exploratory research in BC parks, according to proposed new legislation introduced [February 13]. Bill 4, Park Amendment Act, 2014, would allow investigative-use permits to be issued for studies, including for vegetation sampling, fish surveys and low-impact geotechnical studies. Based on the results of the studies, companies would then have to apply for a boundary adjustment if they wanted to proceed with a project through a park. Read more of the Vancouver Sun article.

BC to Impose New Fees on Mining Industry
The BC government is planning to impose new fees on the mining industry, saying the sector should bear the cost for better services. "It will give the ministry an opportunity to bring a few more resources in to improve our performance," Mines Minister Bill Bennett told the legislature [February 27]. But the industry is calling the move "punitive" and warns it will undermine already-fragile small-scale mining companies. Read the Globe and Mail article. 

BC’S Proposed LNG Tax – Some Answers, Many Questions
The recent British Columbia budget (the budget) included a basic framework for a new income tax on the liquefaction of natural gas at LNG facilities in the province (LNG Tax). The LNG Tax will apply to LNG that is to be exported from BC or consumed in BC and to the liquefaction in BC of gas produced in BC or elsewhere. However, the information on the LNG Tax released in the budget is at a high level and, as noted in this bulletin, questions remain as to how the income from liquefaction will be determined for purposes of the LNG Tax and at what rate the income will be taxed. Further details are not scheduled to be released until the fall of 2014 with administrative and enforcement provisions to be introduced in 2015. This is a summary of what was disclosed in the budget:

• the LNG Tax will be a two-tier tax;
• the Tier 1 tax will be 1.5% of net proceeds (revenue less expenses) once commercial production begins;
• the Tier 2 tax will be (up to) 7% of the amount by which aggregate net proceeds exceeds the amount of the capital investment account, meaning that no Tier 2 tax will be payable until the capital investment account has been recovered. The Tier 2 rate has not been finalized and will be announced in the fall of 2014 along with other details of the LNG Tax. The province has committed to ensuring that the rate of the LNG tax will be competitive with other regimes;
• the Tier 1 tax paid will be deductible against the Tier 2 tax. Thus, the final tax paid will be the Tier 2 tax;
• the capital investment account will consist of the costs associated with constructing the LNG facility including storage tanks and marine loading systems. The account may also include costs related to support functions for the liquefaction process such as control rooms, warehousing and maintenance facilities and infrastructure facilities; and
• the LNG Tax will be calculated on a facility-by-facility basis.

Legislative Changes to benefit
natural resource sector
Legislative amendments introduced [recently] under Bill 5, Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Statutes Amendment Act, 2014, are intended to streamline the regulatory framework for the natural resource sector and help improve the stewardship of British Columbia’s forests, rangeland and wildlife.

Range Act Amendments
Proposed amendments are intended to:

• streamline the process for approving agreements (permits and licences), so that vacant Crown range can be allocated more quickly and efficiently;
• improve business certainty for range operators by allowing longer terms on tenures and conversion of grazing permits issued prior to 2004 to grazing licences;
• allow a holder of multiple tenures to more easily consolidate or subdivide those tenures and enable the conversion of grazing leases to grazing licences, providing flexibility for tenure holders to manage their unique business models; and
• remove the requirement for operators to obtain ministry approval before selling excess hay production.

Wildlife Act Amendments
Proposed amendments are intended to:

• allow corporations as well as individuals to hold guiding territory certificates, making guide certificate ownership less risky by reducing liability among co-owners and increasing opportunities for individuals to come together to purchase territories; and
• replace the licensing requirement for assistant guides with an authorization issued by the employing guide outfitter, giving guide outfitters more flexibility to hire help in unexpected peak periods.

Land Title Act Amendments
Proposed amendments are intended to provide greater certainty to landowners by clarifying the ownership of subdivided land underwater when it is next to Crown land.

Forest Act Amendments

• streamlining administrative processes by transferring decision-making authority from cabinet to the minister on most wood residue export applications (wood residue includes wood chips, slabs, edgings, sawdust and shavings, and is mostly used in pulp and paper and bioenergy)
• allowing people to collect firewood from woodlots and community forests, if they have received the proper permission
• clarifying provisions related to collecting annual rent, bonus bids and putting specific conditions on forest licences

Wildfire Act Amendments
Proposed amendments are intended to make it clear that the provincial government should not be held legally accountable for unavoidable property damage or losses caused by wildfire, so long as it did not act in bad faith while working to control or suppress those fires. This change is expected to save the provincial government $700,000 to $1.3 million annually in legal costs.

Environmental Appeal Board Decisions
A number of Environmental Appeal Board decisions were released in the month of February. All decisions fell under the authority of the Environmental Management Act and included:

• Park Oakview Holdings Ltd. v. Director, Environmental Management Act [Consent Order – Appeal Allowed in Part]
• Shawnigan Residents Association; Cowichan Valley Regional District; v. Director, Environmental Management Act [Preliminary Application by Cobble Hill to Vary Stay Order – Granted]
• Ronald Witherspoon; Cowichan Valley Regional District; John and Lois Hayes; Richard Sanders v. Director, Environmental Management Act [Applications by Cobble Hill to Strike Grounds for Appeal – Allowed in Part; Security for Costs – Denied]

Taking Accuracy Seriously – Stumpage Appraisals
In Western Forest Products Ltd. v. Government of British Columbia, Decision Nos. 2013-FA-001(a) and 2013-FA-002(a) (the “Western Decision”), the Forest Appeals Commission has elevated the importance of "accurate information" in the appraisal of stumpage to something more than a legislative or professional obligation. It has, effectively, become a principle of interpretation applicable to BC’s stumpage appraisal manuals (the "Manual"). As with most stumpage disputes, the Western Decision concerned a difference of opinion over some obscure provision of the Manual. At issue was the ability of licensees to account for the estimated costs of a road that would service multiple cutting permits in the appraisals of more than one of those cutting permits (rather than only in the appraisal of the first cutting permit serviced by the road). Read the full article by Jeff Waatainen, a senior forestry lawyer with the law firm Davis LLP. Jeff will also be contributing expert annotations to the new version of Quickscribe.