Watered down Wetlands Policy threaten water, air, and land security for the province.

"Wetlands provide substantial ecological services that would cost billions if we had to achieve them through other means. Wetlands store and purify supply freshwater; act as carbon sinks; and, support plants and wildlife. Wetlands can filter out from 80 to 770 kilograms of phosphorus per hectare per year. They can also filter out from 350 to 32,000 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare per year. It is estimated that Alberta's peatland-wetland systems store up to 13.75 billion tonnes of carbon."
www.water-matters.org

Alberta does not have a wetlands policy to protect Wetlands in the tar sands region. Since 2003, the public of Alberta has been engaged on developing a policy to address this gap and finally after years of deliberation, and public consultation, the Alberta Water Council put forward a proposed policy to the AB Government.

To obtain consensus with 25 different sector representatives as diverse as agriculture, and forestry, to petro-chemical and environmental conservation, the policy involved compromise. In short, destruction of wetlands is allowed with the demand that companies who destroy wetlands pay to replace the wetlands to an equal or higher quality – promoting what is known as a "No-Net-Loss" Principle.

Only 2 of a 25 member multi-stakeholder group opposed the consensus policy, claiming the demands on Industry to reclaim the wetlands would be "too expensive". The 2 sectors were the Oil & Gas and Mining Sectors. (see their letter of concern here)

The Sierra Club Prairie has obtained a leaked copy of the most recent Alberta Wetlands Policy that shows the extent of industry influence over environmental decisions for the province. Language changes in the document gut and water down the policy, changing wording from "will" to "may" in addition to providing companies with "non-replacement" options for wetlands destruction. It also off loads the responsibility of replacing wetlands destroyed by Industry to the Alberta tax payer rather than the benefiting company.

WE CANNOT ALLOW THE INTERESTS OF MINING and OIL & GAS to UNDERMINE THE INTERESTS OF THE PUBLIC!

OUR GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE!

CALL PREMIER STELMACH and YOUR MLA TODAY!
Find your MLA here: http://streetkey.elections.ab.ca/

SPEAK UP FOR YOUR RIGHTS! WRITE IN A LETTER TO YOUR LOCAL MEDIA, TELL YOUR FRIENDS!

For more information on the draft wetlands policy:

• Albertans, not industry, will pay for lost wetlands — leaked policy document
• Wetlands Consensus Policy Gutted After Backroom Industry Pressure

Posted April 22, 2010 by Anonymous