Consultation - Submission/Final Report - July 2007

[Oscar]

[url]http://www.oilsandsconsultations.gov.ab.ca/submissions/
All_Submissions/Elaine_Hughes.pdf[/url]

October 3, 2006

Oil Sands Consultation
Alberta Department of Energy
North Petroleum Place, 7th Floor
9945 – 108 Street
EDMONTON, AB T5K 2G6

To Multi-Stakeholder Committee:

I am pleased to have the opportunity to contribute my concerns regarding the continuation and expansion of the tarsands in northern Alberta. The pace and scale of this development is outstripping the ability of the federal and provincial governments to protect the regional, national and global environment and climate. Climate change is real, we are destroying our planet with harmful pollution and Alberta tarsands are the major reason why Canada cannot meet its Kyoto goal to reduce its greenhouse gases.

The August 2006 report from Trent University entitled Calculating Critical Loads of Acid Deposition for Forest Soils in Manitoba and Saskatchewan
([url]http://www.ccme.ca/assets/pdf/critical_loads_mb_sk_
1372_web.pdf[/url]) indicates that highly sensitive soils in certain areas of western Saskatchewan are receiving harmful acidifying emissions which exceed critical loads by 2%. Twenty years ago, there was no measurable acidification in our northern lakes and common sense tells us that this can only get worse. And, if the soil is adversely affected by these harmful emissions, so is our water – this is unacceptable and must be addressed immediately by all levels of government and the industry. Polluters have names and addresses. They must be held accountable for damage they cause.

Further, the Conclusion of the 2006 Auditor General’s Report on the Environment and Sustainable Development, section 3.71 states: “Oil and gas production, particularly the rapid development of Canadian oil sands, is significantly increasing greenhouse gas emissions. However, federal initiatives aimed at this sector have achieved minimal reductions to date and have not yet contributed as expected to federal climate change objectives.”

Finally, the 1998 Canada-Wide Acid Rain Strategy for Post- 2000 puts in place a framework for:

• addressing the remaining acid rain problem in eastern Canada;
• ensuring that new acid rain problems do not occur elsewhere in Canada; and
• ensuring that Canada meets its international commitments on acid rain http://www.ec.gc.ca/acidrain/strat/strat_e.htm

It seems to me that this Strategy, specifically the precautionary statement “ensuring that new acid rain problems do not occur elsewhere in Canada”, has failed Saskatchewan. Currently, modern, forward-thinking countries are applying the Precautionary Principle
to their development projects. It is at the top of their priority list; the burden is on the developer to prove that their activities will not harm the environment – why not in Saskatchewan?

I therefore request that a moratorium be issued immediately by the Alberta (or the Federal) Government on any and all expansion of the Alberta tarsands operation until such time as the applicant companies can prove that their activity will no longer pollute and kill the Saskatchewan ecosystem.

Respectfully submitted,

Elaine Hughes

[Oscar]

Interim oil sands consultation report outlines vision for development

January 25, 2007

Further feedback sought from Albertans

Edmonton... Following consultations with the public, a multistakeholder committee (MSC) has developed an interim report, which identifies a vision and principles for the future of oil sands development in Alberta.

The MSC has recommended a vision for oil sands development that:

• honours the rights of First Nations and Métis;
• provides a high quality of life;
• ensures a healthy environment;
• maximizes value-added in Alberta;
• builds healthy communities;
• sees Alberta benefit from the oil economy and lead in the post-oil economy;
• sees Alberta as a world leader in education, technology and a skilled workforce;
• provides high quality infrastructure and services for all Albertans; and,
• demonstrates leadership through world-class governance.

"The committee's efforts reflect the importance of the oil sands to Alberta's future, and tie in directly to government's priorities of managing growth pressures and building a stronger Alberta," said Energy Minister Mel Knight. "On behalf of Environment Minister Rob Renner and Sustainable Resource Development Minister Ted Morton, I would like to thank the committee for their work to date and we look forward to their final report."

In fall 2006, a series of seven public information meetings were held throughout the province to give Albertans an opportunity to add their voice to how the province's oil sands should be developed. Nearly 300 Albertans made submissions during the first phase. In the second phase of the consultation slated to begin in March, the committee will again travel throughout the province to share the findings of the Interim Report and gather feedback from Albertans. The findings from the first and second phases will also be validated with First Nations and Métis.

The multistakeholder committee includes representatives from First Nations, Métis, industry, environmental groups, as well as local, provincial and the federal governments. The final report is scheduled to be submitted to government by June 30, 2007.

A copy of the Multistakeholder Committee Interim Report for Phase I, as well as further information related to this consultation initiative, is available on the consultation website at www.oilsandsconsultations.gov.ab.ca.

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For more information, please call:

Jason Chance
Director of Communications
Alberta Energy
(780) 422-3667

To call toll free within Alberta, dial 310-0000.

Copyright(c); 2006 Government of Alberta

[Oscar]

Oil Sands Consultation and Aboriginal Consultation Final Report

----- Original Message -----
From: "Oil Sands Consultations" <oilsandsconsultations@gov.ab.ca>
Sent: Monday, July 30, 2007 9:57 AM
Subject: Oil Sands Consultation and Aboriginal Consultation Final Report

For your information, please see the news release concerning the Oil Sands Consultation Final Report and the Aboriginal Consultation Final Report at the following link:

http://www.gov.ab.ca/acn/200707/21841FD ... 4832F.html

A copy of the reports as well as further information related to this consultation initiative is available on the Oil Sands Consultations website at
www.oilsandsconsultations.gov.ab.ca.

Thank you for your interest,

Lorna Villeneuve
Oil Sands Development
644-4695

[Oscar]

[url]http://www.oilsandsconsultations.gov.ab.ca/submissions/All_
Submissions/Murray_Hilderman.pdf[/url]

Good Day,

Unfortunately I do not have the time to prioritize my comments or give them a good deal of context. I would be happy to flesh them out at a further date if you wish. Please contact me at.....

Dr. Bridget Emmitt of the Society of Ecology and Hydrology has shown that greatest change in loss of species richness occurs in the initial stages of nitrogen exceedence of critical loads. This is the stage that the Canadian boreal forest is about to enter.

Alberta needs to update it’s modeling that it uses to determine deposition from the rather simplistic RELAD model to a more comprehensive model such as AURAMS or CMAQ that is being used by Environment Canada and are more similar to those used by the European Union.

Monitoring to verify modeling predictions is not being done far field (i.e. in Saskatchewan).

My understanding is that Environment Canada has recently done work that shows that a decrease in sulfur dioxides, combined with a constant nitrogen emissions results in an increase in deposition of nitrates further afield, especially under cold temperatures (Dr. Paul Makar-Env. Can.).

Critical load mapping commissioned by the Canadian Council Ministers for the Environment has shown that (contrary to Alberta receiving environment sensitivity assumptions) Saskatchewan has highly sensitive soils highlighting the need for Alberta to better understand the receiving environment of it’s emissions before continuing expansion.

Loss in efficiencies of certain emission reduction strategies is not taken into account in future emission predictions (e.g. A brand new Dodge Neon will pass emission testing when purchased new, it often will not when it is 10 years old).

Alberta needs to engage Environment Canada in recognizing this transboundary emission issue and have them involved in the evaluation of the ecosystems involved.

Kriging data modeling recently done by Environment Canada (Bob Vet) has shown that with the present monitoring being done in Alberta and Saskatchewan there is a 50% to 100% uncertainty in model results at present. This needs to be resolved before further expansion occurs.

I believe a scenario in the previous MOSS strategy was that some of the impacted areas could be converted to grazing pastures if re-forestation was unlikely. I strongly oppose this as European studies have shown that grasses are extremely aggressive in areas receiving nitrogenous emissions and the concern would be that grasses would spread and out compete native understory throughout the mid-northern boreal forest.

I also urge you to reconsider the present royalty structure, if nothing else increase it to 2% during expansion and dedicate the additional 1% directly towards environmental research.

The boreal forest may never re-establish itself after this resource extraction like the coral reefs off Thailand or the Philippines. The Canadian Boreal forest is a unique ecosystem that, like most precious things, is delicate and irreplaceable.

Thank you for the opportunity to submit my comments.

Murray Hilderman

[Oscar]

Environmental Activist urges Government to Adopt Oil Sands Recommendations - Prairie Acid Rain Coalition

Media Release

July 26, 2007

Yesterday, the Government of Alberta released the Report and Recommendations of the Multistakeholder Committee (MSC) and Panel.

http://www.oilsandsconsultations.gov.ab ... t_TOC.html

The MSC reached consensus on 96 recommendations. Some examples of the consensus recommendations to achieve the vision of “Ensures a Healthy Environment” are:

- Create and implement comprehensive regional resource and environmental planning and management systems for the Oil Sands Area and for regions impacted by existing and proposed upgraders.

- Work with neighboring jurisdictions and the federal government to ensure cumulative assessment and management of transboundary issues.

- Require comprehensive reclamation and mitigation plans from the onset of development that include milestones. Establish penalties to be enforced if operators fail to meet identified milestones.

“It is my expectation that the government will implement all of the consensus recommendations as quickly as possible,” said Martha Kostuch, Chair of the Prairie Acid Rain Coalition and a member of the MSC.

Unfortunately, the MSC and Panel were not able to reach consensus on 26 recommendations. Most of the recommendations they were unable to reach agreement on relate to protection of the environment.

A few of the many important recommendations the MSC and Panel did not reach consensus on are:

- Implement interim precautionary based environmental and emission thresholds, guidelines and frameworks based on the best currently available information.

- Set greenhouse gas targets that will cap emissions for the oil sands industry and lead to reductions consistent with Canada’s international agreements.

- Establish a limit on the cumulative amount of land that can be disturbed at any one time in each of the oil sands areas.

One of the important non-consensus recommendations we did not reach agreement on related to becoming economic leaders is:

In collaboration with the Federal Government, reform the fiscal regime for oil sands to ensure that a minimum of 60 % of net value of the resource is returned to the Federal and Provincial Governments through the combined tax and royalty regimes.

Perhaps the most important recommendation that the MSC and Panel did not reach agreement on is:

Declare a moratorium on new oil sands development (no new leases, no new approvals) until environmental limits have been identified and infrastructure and labour concerns have been addressed.

“Of all the issues raised by the public, the uncontrolled pace of oil sands development was most often identified as being the main cause of environmental, social and economic problems related to oil sands development,” said Martha Kostuch, Panel Member.

“Stop.” “Slow Down.” Take a time out to make sure we do things right.” “What’s the rush?’ “These are the comments we heard frequently when we toured the province,” said Martha Kostuch. “The majority of the people who made submissions to the oil sands panel asked that oil sands development be slowed down. The only MSC recommendation that addresses the pace of oil sands development is the recommendation calling for a moratorium on new oil sands development.”

“I urge the Government of Alberta to implement the twenty three non-consensus recommendations which, as the panel member representing the environmental non-government organizations, I supported,” said Martha Kostuch. “The implementation of these recommendations in addition to the consensus recommendations will make Alberta a leader in achieving the agreed upon visions for oil sands development.”

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Contact: Martha Kostuch – 403-845-9720

[Oscar]

Media Release
Jul 25, 2007

Oil Sands Multistakeholder Committee Recommendations Fail to Address Runaway Pace of Oil Sands Development

Responsibility Now Rests With Premier Stelmach's Government

http://www.pembina.org/media-release/1492

Media Contact: Dan Woynillowicz

The recommendations of the Oil Sands Multistakeholder Committee released today by the Government of Alberta fail to address the main concerns of Albertans, according to the Pembina Institute. The final report was submitted to the Government of Alberta on June 30, 2007, and is currently being reviewed by the Ministers of Energy, Environment and Sustainable Resource Development. The Ministers have not yet responded to either the consensus or non-consensus recommendations of the committee.

"The consensus recommendations of the committee fail to address Albertans' number one concern: the runaway pace of oil sands development. Now it's up to Premier Stelmach to tackle this concern head-on and make a decision about slowing the pace of development," noted Dan Woynillowicz, a Senior Policy Analyst with the Pembina Institute and one of three environmentalists on the committee. "Unfortunately some members of the committee were more interested in defending the status quo than in addressing the growing concerns that Albertans have about how oil sands development is occurring."

The Pembina Institute's formal submission to the public consultation laid out a blueprint calling for a "pause" on new oil sands project approvals and lease sales until the Government of Alberta addresses six key requirements for responsible development (see Background below). In a recent poll of Albertans conducted by Probe Research for the Pembina Institute it was found that 71 per cent of Albertans believe that the Government of Alberta should suspend new oil sands approvals until infrastructure and environmental management issues have been addressed in areas affected by oil sands development. In addition, 74 per cent of Albertans believe that the government should manage the rate of oil sands development to meet the best long-term interests of Albertans. That compares to only 20 per cent who believe that market forces should decide the rate of oil sands development in Alberta.

"Albertans have made it clear that they aren't willing to write-off the environment for oil sands development," said Woynillowicz. "While some progress was made by the committee in making consensus recommendations regarding some of the environmental impacts arising from oil sands development, the majority are simply 'band aid' solutions. Ultimately these recommendations still fail to address the cumulative threats that oil sands development pose to our boreal forest, fresh water, air quality and climate."

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For more information:

Oil Sands Fever - A Blueprint for Delivering on Albertans' Expectations can be downloaded at http://www.oilsandswatch.org

Dan Woynillowicz, Senior Policy Analyst
Cell: 403-538-7782

Background

The Pembina Institute's Blueprint for Responsible Oil Sands Development outlines six key elements that serve as the basis for such a plan. These elements include:

- Limit Environmental Impacts: Apply science-based precautionary limits that tell us when ecosystems are threatened, so that we can make informed decisions about whether and how oil sands projects proceed.

- Address Cumulative Impacts: Improve the systems and approaches for monitoring and addressing the impacts of oil sands development on the climate, air, fresh water, boreal forest and wildlife.

- Focus on Quality of Life: Manage the rate of oil sands growth to maximize the benefits to Albertans' quality of life, and ensure that social services and infrastructure can keep pace.

- Think Like an Owner: Reform the oil sands royalty regime so that Albertans obtain maximum value from the development of the resources they own.

- Make Better Decisions for Albertans: Reform the Energy and Utilities Board's decision-making process so that the public interest comes first and only responsible oil sands projects proceed.

- Plan for the Future: Take advantage of Alberta's prosperity so as to build a more diversified, green and competitive future that includes low-impact renewable energies and responsible energy use.