Sierra Legal Defense Fund
As I have often repeated to Sierra staff, my family, my friends, and PBSC, working at Sierra Legal Defense Fund is my dream summer job. In fact, I came to law school with the express desire to work for Sierra Legal in the future. The PBSC fellowship gave me the opportunity to work with Sierra early in my legal career and to gain contacts, experience and, most importantly, inspiration to continue in my chosen path as a public interest lawyer. Through this program, Sierra's Vancouver office gained a free employee for the summer they would otherwise been unable to hire.
The dry description of my work at Sierra is that I conducted a regulatory audit of British Columbia's oil and gas regulations, comparing BC's environmental, first nations, enforcement, and community protection with Alberta and Colorado's performance. This work is in response to the provincial government's commitment to doubling onshore oil and gas activity in northeastern BC. It is particularly important given the relative youth of the regulator, the BC Oil and Gas Commission. My learning curve was steep, and the audit I have been conducting is detailed and thoroughly researched (thanks to my background in academic research). Principal lawyer Tim Howard will be summarizing and modifying the comprehensive audit I am completing, and the report will be published in the late fall or early next spring. Tim and I also had the incredible opportunity to visit Fort St. John and the surrounding area, interviewing regulators, Treaty 8, and affected landowners, and visiting a First Nations feast.
