RE:RE:LEGAULTS JUNK SCIENCE FACES MASSIVE LAWSUITSI wonder if in the big carbon trading scheme they are currently enrolled in if they get any compensation or carbon credits for keeping it in the ground?
If they can make a viable arguement for the health and safety of their ctizens they may be able to stave off compensatory penalties. Remember the Napoleonic code that is the basis of Quebec's civil tort law is different than the rest of Canada and France just got away with nixing O&G permits.
I have to admit that the government does seem disingenuous with its dealings with O&G E&Ps but then ths is a different ruling party than the ones that made the invitations. However under the law it is the same government.
It should be interesting to watch it unfold and I would equate it to the Ontario Liberal governments moving of the gas fired power plants that cost them so much.
From a purely selfish point of view none of the NG in Quebec belongs to ARX and for its benifit it is better it stay in the ground.
GLTA Longs
mrbb wrote: The lawsuit settlement is likely come from oil money expropriated from western provinces through the ill conceived transfer payment
Lightoil123 wrote:
Junk Science Week: Net-Zero Edition — Terence Corcoran: The first net-zero lawsuit won't be the last
Utica seeks $18 billion from Quebec over gas lockdown
The government of Quebec Premier Francois Legault, left, faces a lawsuit for its legislation — Bill 21 — described as an act “to end petroleum exploration and production.” PHOTO BY JACQUES BOISSINOT /THE CANADIAN PRESS Article content
In what is shaping up as the first major legal confrontation over government plans to shut down fossil fuel industries in Canada, Montreal-based Utica Resources this week filed a 114-page suit against the Quebec government demanding $18-billion in compensation.
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Utica is one of several companies that invested tens of millions of dollars exploring for gas in the province. The discovery of massive shale gas resources offered industry and the province an opportunity to place Quebec among the top natural gas producers in the world.
That promising future was quashed last year, however, when Quebec Premier Francois Legault’s nationalist government pushed through legislation — Bill 21 — described as an act “to end petroleum exploration and production.” The act, the most brazen net-zero carbon prohibition in the world, was approved by the provincial legislature in April, much to the delight of green activists.
But now the fossil fuel companies who discovered the gas reserves are striking back. Utica is the first to put a dollar value on the compensation it is seeking: $18-billion. Other companies will also be filing suits for billions more, potentially setting the province up for massive cash liabilities as a result of its carbon-neutrality policies.
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In a statement Wednesday, Utica CEO Mario Levesque said “We will defend our rights so that this disguised expropriation, the public utility of which does not exist, is compensated at the fair value of our properties.” Levesque said an independent expert has concluded that “Utica’s properties would generate $67-billion in future profits (net value of recoverable resources in place), the equivalent of $18 billion in net present value using the discount rate of the Court.”
Another company with major gas reserves in the province, Calgary’s Questerre Energy, is also moving forward with legal action seeking multi-billion-dollar compensation. Michael Binnion, Questerre CEO, describes the Quebec shutdown of fossil fuels as worse than expropriation. “I call it confiscation,” he said in an interview. Statistically, he said, “half the Russian exports of gas to Germany could be replaced by our discovery in Quebec.” He said Questerre holds 21 trillion cubic feet (tcf) in resources. A rough rule is that each tcf is worth $1-billion for a total of $21-billion.
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An unofficial English translation of the 114-page Utica lawsuit documents the role the government played in supporting the exploration activity. In 2019 the province’s energy department boasted about the potential. “Eventual production of hydrocarbons in Quebec would reduce imports and improve the balance of trade. This creation of wealth and jobs could be used to the benefit of Quebecers.”
Backed by activists, the province then abandoned the industry and converted to a full-bore net-zero carbon emissions program. The cost of that conversion could be high if the courts support the legal arguments of the industry. Utica describes the fossil fuel shutdown as a breach of Quebec’s charter of rights and civil code, which requires compensation when property rights are violated.
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The province’s energy minister, Jonatan Julien, said the government is prepared to offer $100-million as compensation, intended as a return of at least part of the exploration and development costs but making no provision for the value of the assets found. In accounting terms, the companies want fair market value for the fossil fuel assets they found, based on net present value calculations.
The political and economic argument could drive the legal case in favour of the corporations. Hypothetically, what happens five years from today when government policy changes and fossil fuel production is allowed? Having confiscated the assets via zero-cost expropriation, the government would then be in a position to reap hundreds of billions in financial reward that rightly belonged to the companies and their investors.
As Levesque put it: “For years, the Quebec government had invited us and others to invest in order to explore and extract Quebec’s oil and gas resources. We acted in good faith, found local and foreign investors and respected all of Quebec’s regulatory requirements. Then from one day to the next, the government changed its mind for political reasons and effectively expropriated our properties without proper prior compensation.”
Could the first net-zero lawsuit alter the future of net zero?