Alex Sadvari

Alex is an environmental lawyer and partner in Gowling WLG's Toronto office, practising in the areas of environmental, renewable energy, land use planning, and development law. She is on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Biogas Association and is also the co-head of the firm's BioEnergy Group.

Alex spent a year on secondment at Ontario Power Generation Inc. where she handled all environmental law issues, including: environmental risk management, regulatory compliance, inspections, and investigations for all parts of the business, including nuclear and hydroelectric generating stations. Her in-house experience has given her energy sector knowledge as well as an understanding of the demands faced by in-house counsel, allowing her to successfully and efficiently anticipate and meet client needs.

Alex advises corporate, municipal, and Indigenous clients, providing strategic regulatory advice and representation. Often working at the intersection between environmental law and land use planning, she delivers timely, practical legal advice on a wide array of complex matters, including:

• Provincial environmental assessments and federal impact assessments;
• Planning policy, municipal law and land use development;
• Technical and strategic advice to various industrial sectors (including manufacturing and waste disposal);
• Environmental risks in transactions (including real estate acquisitions, mergers, lending transactions and leases);
• Environmental management and regulatory compliance, including regulatory inspections, investigations and enforcement;
• Natural resource management and development (including mining and aggregate resource operations);
• Endangered species approvals;
• Management of excess soils;
• Federal Fisheries Act approvals and offences;
• Environmental issues related to food and agriculture;
• Import and export of environmentally regulated substances and products;
• Transportation of dangerous goods; and
• Environmental and energy permitting and approvals;
• Carbon markets and carbon credits; and
• Developing biogas, renewable natural gas (RNG), biomass, and liquid biofuel projects.

Alex works effectively with multi-disciplinary teams of ecologists, hydrogeologists, land use planners, economists, and other specialized, technical experts. She has obtained a variety of key approvals for her clients, including: environmental compliance approvals, zoning by-law amendments, official plan amendments, and permits under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999, the federal Pest Control Products Act, the Ontario Environmental Protection Act, the Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act and the Endangered Species Act, 2007.

In addition, Alex acts as an advocate for clients in regulatory prosecutions, administrative and planning appeals, and judicial reviews. She appears in front of administrative tribunals, including the Ontario Land Tribunal, as well as in court.