Stelmach wants full report on oilsands moratorium

Groups seeking no new development in three areas until 2011

Jason Markusoff and Renata D'Aleisio
Calgary Herald
Monday, February 25, 2008

CALGARY - The Alberta Conservatives will not decide for months on a request from several major oilsands companies to halt development leases in three huge and environmentally sensitive swaths of the oilsands region, Conservative Leader Ed Stelmach said today.

The request threatens to pit Stelmach's commitment to environmental protection against his campaign mantra of not "touching the brake" on energy development, although he repeatedly dodged that question as the final week of campaigning towards next Monday's election began.

Industry giants including Petro-Canada, Imperial Oil, Husky Energy and Suncor Energy support the request for protected conservation areas in a January letter to the Alberta government by the Cumulative Environmental Management Association. The letter asks that the government not sell oilsands leases in the three areas until at least 2011.

"Although the sale of leases does not guarantee that commercial bitumen production will occur in that specific location, it does open the door to that possibility and the accompanying ecological disturbance," the letter states.

Last week, the Assembly of Treaty Chiefs in Alberta also unanimously supported the resolution for an oilsands moratorium.

Stelmach noted some oilsands firms disagreed with the letter's recommendation, and suggested if re-elected, the Tory government would hold off until final recommendations from CEMA come in June.

He said the government would have its own study completed by then with a plan to limit certain air-emissions from the oilsands sector.

"All recommendations that come forward we take seriously, but even if there wasn't a request to hold back any of the leases, we would be looking at leases if it extends beyond what we think, environment thinks, is the right level, the most appropriate level of emissions in that area," Stelmach said.

"So the cumulative environmental effect will take precedence because we want to make sure we maintain the air quality around Fort McMurray."

EnCana and Canadian Natural Resources are among CEMA's members who opposed the recommendation, although non-industry players including the local government, environmental groups and Environment Canada side with CEMA's majority.

Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan Dene First Nation and a member of the Keepers of the Athabasca organization brought the resolution to the Assembly said the province hasn't properly consulted aboriginals over oilsands development.

"The cumulative impacts of oil sands development has all but destroyed the traditional livelihood of First Nations in northern Athabasca watershed," Adam said in a statement.

In Calgary, Stelmach reiterated he doesn't want to slow development. However, he didn't link his "no touching the brake" slogan with this request, but rather took it as a springboard to continue attacks on his rival Alberta Liberals.

"Governments do not control the economy," Stelmach said. "The last time the economy was controlled by a government was back in the 1980s and it was the federal Trudeau Liberals... we're not going back to those dark days.

Taft's party has no formal links to the federal Liberals, and he has slammed the Tories for fear-mongering and name-calling. Taft said the calls for a moratorium show the province needs to rethink how it's developing the oilsands.

Taft said if the Liberals formed government, the party wouldn't approve new oilsands projects until a detailed plan is drafted for managing impacts on the environment, infrastructure and labour.

"The consensus is we need to manage oilsands development better," he said. "The Tories have allowed a free-for-all. This is the biggest industrial development on the planet. We need a plan."

NDP Leader Brian Mason said his party has always favoured a more regulated pace of development in the oilsands.

"The devastation on water and on the environment is severe," he said in Edmonton. "And it's really one of the reasons we think we need to be reforming our economy into a green energy economy."