Rosebud resident awaits Supreme Court decision

Laureen F. Guenther
Times Contributor

 

Jessica Ernst, a Rosebud resident, went to the Supreme Court on Jan. 12 to ask Canada’s highest court whether she has the right to sue the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER).
That claim would be brought against the AER in an Alberta provincial court, for its involvement in a case that also involves the gas and oil company Encana.
Ernst’s legal battle with the AER began in 2005 when the well-water on her Rosebud acreage became unsafe for washing and drinking. She discovered that the gas and oil company Encana had, without permission, fracked oil wells near her property and elsewhere in the Rosebud region. That fracking, she believes, released hazardous chemicals including methane into her water well.
When Encana denied responsibility for the damage to Ernst’s well-water, she took her complaint to the AER, who also denied the validity of her claim.
So in 2007, Ernst began a legal case against Encana and the AER, and in 2011, she expanded that claim to include Alberta Environment. All three organizations said they were immune from prosecution, but Alberta’s provincial courts decided only the AER has immunity.
It was the AER’s claim for immunity that brought Ernst before the Supreme Court on Jan. 12. She wanted to know: is the AER immune from prosecution? Or does Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms give her the right to prosecute the AER?
“I watched the hearing on the edge of my seat, more stressed than I’ve ever been in my life,” Ernst said in an e-mail. “I felt sorry for Glenn Solomon, outside counsel for the AER, because he admitted in Canada’s highest court that I have a Charter case not barred by the immunity clause.”
The Supreme Court justices heard Ernst’s appeal, but deferred their decision for an unspecified length of time.
While she waits for their decision, Ernst said, “I continue studying the data and evidence I have proving the law violations by Encana and the regulators, and proving the contamination of my community’s drinking water aquifers with petroleum distillates, heavy metals, tert-butyl alcohol, phthalates and more.”
If the Supreme Court decides she doesn’t have the right to prosecute the AER, Ernst said, “it’ll be terrible for all Canadians abused by government bodies that fraudulently cover-up harms by corporations and governments, and violate rights to intimidate and silence citizens.”
And if she does win the right to prosecute, “I personally win nothing,” she said, “but (I) get sent back to the Alberta courts that denied me my rights in the first place, to start my case against the AER, hundreds of thousands of dollars and nine years lost. But, all other Canadians – now and into the future – get their Charter rights back intact and that’s what’s most important.”