Today, the Pembina Institute released Drilling Deeper: The In Situ Oil Sands Report Card. It is the first comparative environmental assessment of in-situ oilsands projects. Scores among the nine Canadian operating projects surveyed ranged from 25 to 60 per cent, with five of nine projects scoring less than 50 per cent. The average score of 44 per cent demonstrates substantial room for improvement across the sector.

As shale gas discoveries greatly expand already abundant reserves of natural gas, the economics of EnCana’s application to drill an additional 1,275 gas wells within Suffield National Wildlife Area are becoming ever more questionable. The Suffield Coalition has long argued that it would be economically imprudent and not in the public interest to approve EnCana’s application. In June, EnCana announced it was shutting in gas wells because of low demand and prices, so the time may be just right for EnCana to abandon further drilling within Suffield National Wildlife Area.

The Alberta government’s recent decision to suspend the province’s grizzly bear hunt for 2010 is good news for the bears. With a current population estimate of 691 bears in Alberta, the species requires legal protection from harm, not deliberate killing, say Alberta’s conservation organizations.

“We applaud the Minister for continuing the government’s commitment to removing one avoidable cause of grizzly bear deaths,” says Nigel Douglas, Alberta Wilderness Association conservation specialist. “It is important that that the new minister for Sustainable Resource Development has reaffirmed the commitments of his predecessor.”

Chris Severson-Baker, Policy Director for the Pembina Institute, made the following statement in response to the competitiveness review released today:

"Albertans, the owners of the province’s oil and gas resources, were completely left out of the process of reviewing Alberta’s royalty rates.

"The review happened behind closed doors primarily with industry at the exclusion of representation from Alberta citizens.

"Albertans are the owners of the resource, the provincial government is the manager of the resource and the oil and gas companies are hired to undertake developments. The goal is to maximize value to Albertans, yet they have been excluded from negotiations. We can’t be sure that today’s changes will allow Albertans to get the best value from the development of their resource because they weren’t consulted as part of this review.

Calls to protect one of Alberta’s last great unprotected watersheds received a recent boost with the publishing of the province’s new report, Status of the Grizzly Bear in Alberta. The 4,000 square kilometre Bighorn area, which sits east of Jasper and Banff National Parks, has suffered from motorized abuse, and it is now clear that grizzly bears are one more victim of that abuse.

Despite good progress by a multi-stakeholder group in understanding issues around Athabasca River water withdrawals, Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA) is concerned there will still not be protective water rules for low winter flows. AWA believes oilsands mine river withdrawals must cease during low winter flows.

Alberta conservation groups are seeking an emergency order from Jim Prentice, Federal Environment Minister to enforce habitat protection for the endangered Foothills and Oil Sands woodland caribou herds. “Minister Prentice has recently acknowledged that there is a need for industry and the Alberta government to work with Ottawa to improve Canada’s environmental reputation. Alberta’s caribou desperately need Federal help, and this is Prentice’s chance to take meaningful action,” says Rocky Notnes with the Athabasca Bioregional Society.

Edmonton, Alberta — Alberta must act fast to protect 50% of the oil sands area from industrial use so that wilderness, biodiversity and traditional use can continue into the future.

That is the key advice contained in an open letter to Ed Stelmach from the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS). CPAWS wrote the letter to the premier on the occasion of World Wetlands Day, February 2, and the International Year of Biodiversity.

The province and energy industry have been criticized by leading thinkers and governments for their rush to extract fuel from the oil sands without regard for the environmental costs. Alberta has a chance to prove the critics wrong, says Helene Walsh, Boreal Conservation Director for CPAWS, Northern Alberta

Calgary – The Suffield Coalition is disappointed to have learned last week that the Crown has stayed the case against EnCana on charges of violating Canada’s Wildlife Act. EnCana was scheduled to be tried on March 19, 2010, almost five years after EnCana installed a section of pipeline in the CFB Suffield National Wildlife Area without a permit (in March 2005). Numerous adjournments and a preliminary hearing were held in Medicine Hat, but now there will be no trial.