Brad Gilmour

Partner, Regulatory, Indigenous and Environmental
Co-Chair: Environmental Disputes and Enforcement

Calgary

(403) 260-7050 

[email protected]

Bar Admission: Alberta, 1996 | British Columbia, 2005 | Northwest Territories, 2024 |

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Areas of Expertise

Brad is a partner in the Regulatory, Indigenous and Environmental Group of our Calgary office and Co-Chair of the Environmental Disputes, Investigations and Enforcement Group.

His practice focuses primarily on environmental, energy, natural resources, regulatory and Indigenous law. Brad has experience in facility approval applications associated with a wide array of industry and project types, including energy, natural resource, chemical, petrochemical, hydro, oil sands, carbon capture and storage, biofuel and renewable power.

Brad appears before the Alberta Energy Regulator, the Alberta Environmental Appeals Board, the Alberta Utilities Commission, the Natural Resources Conservations Board, the British Columbia Environmental Appeal Board and the Canada Energy Regulator. Brad also advises clients regarding regulatory compliance issues, spills, contaminated sites and environmental and regulatory prosecutions and has appeared before various courts including the Provincial Court of British Columbia, the Alberta Court of Justice, the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta, the Court of Appeal of Alberta, the Provincial Court of Saskatchewan, the Provincial Court of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Supreme Court of Canada.

Before practicing law, Brad worked in Calgary as an environmental consultant conducting environmental liability assessments and site remediation programs. He writes and speaks on environmental and regulatory law topics and has taught courses on environmental law and occupational health and safety law for the University of Calgary, Athabasca University and the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.

Areas of Expertise

Representative Work

  • Chevron Canada Limited

    Chevron Canada Limited on the sale of its interest in the Athabasca Oil Sands Project and the Kaybob Duvernay Shale Gas Project to Canadian Natural Resources Limited for US$6.5 billion

Prior to joining Osler:

  • Reference re Impact Assessment Act, 2023 SCC 23 – counsel to the Province of Alberta in respect of a reference to the Alberta Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. The Supreme Court of Canada agreed with Alberta that the Impact Assessment Act and the Physical Activities Regulation were unconstitutional.
  • Orphan Well Association v. Grant Thornton Ltd., 2019 SCC 5 – counsel to the Orphan Well Association in a successful application to the Supreme Court of Canada in respect of the responsibility for end-of-life environmental liabilities in cases where a receiver or trustee has been appointed to administer upstream oil and gas assets in an insolvency scenario.
  • Environmental and Regulatory Prosecution Defence – counsel to many corporations and Boards of Directors concerning federal and provincial environmental and regulatory compliance issues and prosecutions across Canada concerning matters such a pipeline releases, dam failures, commodity transportation accidents (including truck and rail), sour gas releases, oil facility releases, releases from petroleum and natural gas wells, chemical plant releases, tailings pond containment investigations, offshore hydrocarbon and chemical releases, improper import and export of chemicals including ozone depleting substances and substances not on the domestic substances list, and breaches of operating permits and licenses (various provincial environmental and regulatory statutes and regulations, and federal statutes including the Fisheries Act, the Migratory Birds Convention Act, the Species at Risk Act, the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999, the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Atlantic Accord Implementation Act, and the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Resources Accord Implementation Act. 
  • Contaminated Sites – counsel to many corporations in respect of liability and responsibility for contaminated sites in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec ranging from former oil and gas facilities, former chemical plants, abandoned mine sites, former gas station sites and other former industrial activities and sites.
  • Oil Sands Developers – represented many of Canada’s oil sands developers in obtaining regulatory and environmental authorizations and providing Indigenous law advice for major in-situ and mining oil sands projects in all three oil sands regions of Alberta (Athabasca, Peace River and Cold Lake) ranging from 10,000 bbl/d to 270,000 bbl/d.
  • Carbon Capture and Storage – represented many corporations in respect of regulatory and environmental approvals for carbon capture and storage projects including Shell Canada Limited in respect of its Quest Carbon Capture and Storage Project which was one of the first commercial scale CCS projects developed and constructed in Canada.
  • WCC LNG Ltd. (ExxonMobil Canada Ltd. and Imperial Resources Limited) – in respect of an application to the National Energy Board (now the Canada Energy Regulator) for the export of liquified natural gas from the West Coast of British Columbia.
  • ExxonMobil Canada Ltd. – in respect of applications to the National Energy Board (now the Canada Energy Regulator) for Leave to Abandon the Sable Offshore Energy Project facilities including an approximate 200 km offshore natural gas pipeline and the Goldboro Gas Processing Facility.
  • ATCO Power Canada Ltd. – in respect of all regulatory and environmental approvals associated with a 400 MW power generation facility to be located in Strathcona County.
  • North West Refining – in respect of all regulatory and environmental approvals associate with the Sturgeon Upgrader and Refinery located in the Alberta Industrial Heartland.
  • Mustus Energy – in respect of all regulatory and environmental approvals associate with an biomass power plant to be located in Northern Alberta.
  • Imperial Oil Limited – in respect of a successful application by Trans-Northern Pipeline Inc to the Canada Energy Regulatory for approval of an Incentive Tolls Settlement Agreement associated with the TNPI System which transports refined petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to large cities in Ontario and Quebec and connects major refineries in that region.
  • ATCO Ltd. – through Canadian Utilities Limited, in its acquisition of DP Energy of the Barlow (27 MW) and Deerfoot (37 MW) solar projects located in Calgary, which will be the largest solar installation in a major urban centre in Western Canada.
  • Kissner Group Holdings LP – in its acquisition of NSC Minerals Ltd., a market-leading provider of salt products in Western Canada and the North Central United States, from an investor group led by Atlas Partners.
  • CST Canada Coal Limited – in its acquisition of the coal assets of Grande Cache Coal LP and the Grande Cache Coal Corporation for aggregate consideration of approximately US$433.9 million.
View all Representative Work

Awards and Recognition

  • Chambers Canada: Canada’s Leading Lawyers for Business: Recognized in Environmental; Energy: Oil & Gas (Regulatory)
  • Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business: Recognized in Environmental; Energy: Oil & Gas
  • The Legal 500 Canada: Recognized in Environmental Law (Hall of Fame); Energy: Oil & Gas
  • The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory: Recognized in Environmental Law; Energy (Oil and Gas); Aboriginal Law; Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG)
  • Best Lawyers in Canada: Recognized in Environmental Law
  • Lexpert Special Edition: Recognized in Energy

Media Mentions

  • Osler News Mar 12, 2024

    Brad Gilmour joins Osler’s Regulatory, Indigenous and Environmental group as a partner

    Brad specializes in complex regulatory and environmental approvals for some of Canada’s largest and most important projects, advising clients...

    Read more

Credentials

Education

  • University of Calgary, LL.B.
  • Indiana University, M.Sc.
  • Simon Fraser University, B.Sc. (with honours)

Languages

  • English

Professional Affiliations

  • Law Society of Alberta
  • Law Society of British Columbia
  • Law Society of the Northwest Territories

Osler is a leading business law firm practising internationally from offices across Canada and in New York. Our clients include industry and business leaders in all segments of the market and at various stages in the growth of their businesses. We have built our reputation on our commitment to our clients' success and the experience, expertise and collaborative approach for which we are recognized. We believe that our success is a reflection of our clients' success.