Westmoreland Mining Holdings LLC v. Government of Canada

Claimant

Westmoreland Mining Holdings LLC is a company incorporated in the State of Delaware in the United States. It owns Prairie Mines & Royalty ULC, which is incorporated in Alberta and owns and operates coal mines in Alberta.

Agreement

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

Articles

• 1102 (National Treatment)
• 1105 (Minimum Standard of Treatment)

Damages claimed

At least $470 million CAD

Status

Won. The Tribunal dismissed the claim in its entirety on January 31, 2022.

Arbitration rules

UNCITRAL

Summary

Procedural history

Westmoreland Mining Holdings LLC, submitted a Notice of Intent to Submit a Claim to Arbitration (NOI) dated May 13, 2019, and filed a Notice of Arbitration commencing the NAFTA arbitration process on August 12, 2019. The Tribunal was constituted on February 24, 2020, and granted Canada’s request for bifurcation of jurisdictional questions on October 20, 2020. Following an exchange of written submissions, the hearing on jurisdiction took place on July 14-15, 2021. On January 31, 2022, the Tribunal dismissed the claim in its entirety.

Factual overview and nature of the claim

Westmoreland Mining Holdings LLC alleged that the Province of Alberta’s Climate Leadership Plan (CLP), which sought to phase out all electricity generated from coal by 2030, had reduced the lifespan of Westmoreland Mining Holdings LLC’s mines in Alberta and treated the claimant unfairly.

Westmoreland Mining Holdings LLC further alleged that Alberta had treated it unfairly and in a discriminatory manner by providing transition payments to three coal-fired generating unit owners impacted by the CLP, and not providing such a payment to the claimant for its coal mine assets.

Legal documents

This case was governed by the arbitral rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). Documents related to this case can be viewed at the website of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes.

Copies of all legal documents posted have been prepared in a language of operation of the Tribunal or Court in question. The Government of Canada has not modified or changed them in any way. As such they have not been translated from the original.

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