Yukon Court of Appeal strikes down more claims in oil company’s lawsuit on government’s fracking ban

The government said there were still parts of the lawsuit that stood no chance of success

The Yukon Court of Appeal has tossed out more parts of a $2.2-billion lawsuit against the territorial government.

Chance Oil and Gas is suing over the government’s 2015 moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking. In January, a Yukon Supreme Court judge threw out part of the lawsuit, but the government appealed, saying there were still parts of the lawsuit that stood no chance of success.

The appeal court has now agreed — in part. It’s thrown out claims that the moratorium unjustly enriched the government.

The court also said the government’s moratorium amounts to the unlawful cancellation of the company’s permits

The lawsuit has yet to go to trial.

Moratorium issued in 2015

The Yukon Supreme Court previously struck down three of the company’s lawsuit claims at the start of this year.

That included a claim of unlawful interference with economic interests and the company’s request to order the government to exempt it from the fracking ban.

The court also granted a request from the government to remove Ranj Pillai, Yukon’s energey minister at the time, from the suit.

The former Yukon Party government issued the fracking moratorium in 2015 following months of hearings on the practice by a select committee of the Legislative Assembly.

Fracking is only permitted in the natural-gas rich Liard Basin in southeast Yukon, and only with the approval of local First Nations.

-With files from Jackie Hong

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