Selina Lee-Andersen is an experienced lawyer in the areas of environmental law, corporate/commercial law, regulatory law, compliance and Aboriginal issues in the energy and natural resource sectors. Having worked in an advisory capacity in both the public and private sectors, Selina has in-depth experience in providing practical legal and business advice to organizations. In particular, her knowledge of provincial and federal legislative frameworks enables her to provide practical guidance to clients on the impacts of common law, statutory and policy developments on their business operations. In addition, she regularly advises clients on the commercial aspects of mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance transactions, and procurement processes.

Selina's practice also specializes in climate change law, where she provides strategic advice to clients on matters relating to carbon pricing, emissions trading, offset systems, compliance and clean technologies. Trained in the ISO 14064-1 standard for Organization Level Quantification and Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Removal, she is also widely published in the areas of carbon transactions and emissions trading, and has been endorsed as a leading Canadian environmental lawyer in PLC Which Lawyer? Environment Handbook.

Before joining McCarthy Tétrault, Selina was in-house legal counsel and compliance officer at SNC-Lavalin Environment & Water, prior to which she was an associate at one of Canada’s leading national firms.

Selina holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Ottawa and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of London (England). She also obtained a Master’s degree in public administration (specializing in innovation, science and environment) from Carleton University in 2002 and completed her undergraduate studies at the University of British Columbia. She is fluent in Cantonese and conversant in German.

Selina provides legal services to clients on a wide variety of matters, including:

• Advising project proponents on environmental and regulatory issues (including environmental assessment, due diligence, permitting and Aboriginal matters) relating to the development of projects in the renewable energy, oil and gas, power, mining and infrastructure sectors across Canada.
• Advising clients on carbon market opportunities and the impacts of new and evolving climate change regulations on business operations across Canada.
• Negotiating and drafting contracts for the aggregation of emission offset credits and the purchase and sale of emission offset credits and renewable energy credits in both mandatory and voluntary markets.
• Advising on compliance issues in connection with greenhouse gas reporting obligations.
• Assisting clients with corporate carbon disclosure requirements pursuant to securities laws and voluntary initiatives (CDP, Global Reporting Initiative).Negotiating and drafting agreements for the trading of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and sulphur oxide (SO2) allowances in the Ontario electricity sector.
• Assisting clients with the development of emission offset protocols, reviewing verification documents and managing the registration of emission offsets.
• Advising clients on remediation obligations and risk allocation in respect of contaminated sites and other industrial activities.
• Negotiating and drafting remediation agreements and environmental indemnity agreements.
• Negotiating and drafting business agreements (including impact and benefit agreements, joint venture agreements, sub-contracts and services agreements) between project proponents and Aboriginal groups in connection with the development of infrastructure, energy and resource projects across Canada.
• Advising project proponents and investors on the potential impacts of regulatory and Aboriginal law developments within the context of upstream, mid-stream and downstream LNG sectors (including hydraulic fracturing, pipelines, LNG processing facilities, and marine transportation).Structuring business arrangements to facilitate the participation of Aboriginal groups in energy and resource development projects.
• Advising on procurement processes within the context of preferential employment and business opportunities for Aboriginal groups.
• Advising project proponents on mineral tenure issues in connection with mining projects in British Columbia, Yukon and Northwest Territories.
• Drafting corporate environmental, health and safety, ethics and compliance, and corporate social responsibility policies for private and public sector clients.
• Advising on regulatory and compliance issues in Western Canadian electricity markets, including issues relating to mandatory reliability standards, load-shed services, transmission must-run services, and generation remedial action scheme services.