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.

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.

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

2010 Membership Drive kick-off, free Wine and Cheese, and

Location

A two-year commitment is desired for this full-time position with attractive benefits package.

Position Priorities

The impacts of tar sands development are increasingly becoming the focus of international and national attention. This attention has not yet slowed government or industry plans to rapidly expand the industrial operations to extract, transport or refine the resource.

In this issue of the Water Log:

1. New report from Water Matters: Increasing federal oversight of oil sands impacts to water
2. A different perspective on proposals to expand Alberta’s water market
3. Another delay for the Wetlands Policy
4. Your time to make a difference: please comment on the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan

View this issue online at: http://www.water-matters.org/enews/archive/2009-12.html

Edmonton— Canada’s inability to play a leadership role at international climate change negotiations is just one of many negative consequences of an energy sector that is dominated by large for-profit corporations, and we need to begin exploring alternate business models for the industry.  This is a key message of a new discussion paper released today by Alberta’s Parkland Institute in conjunction with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Ottawa and Calgary — The federal government is failing to enforce and implement numerous laws that are in place to protect the water — in many cases the drinking water — for tens of thousands of Canadians who live near oil sands operations. According to a new report released today, this failure affects people who live in Fort Chipewyan, Fort Smith, Fort MacKay and also in Yellowknife.