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February 26, 2008 Citizens, environmental groups, labour groups, First Nations communities, social justice and academic groups have all been saying there should be no new approvals in tar sands development. Big oil companies have now joined this call. So why aren’t politicians listening? Despite all the recent pleas to the contrary, Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach is signaling he will not slow down oil sands development. According to an article in the Calgary Herald today: “Stelmach dismissed as preliminary the request of an immediate suspension of government land-lease sales in three environmentally sensitive swaths of land in northern Alberta. The call, sent to the province less than three weeks before the election race began, comes from Environment Canada and several oilsands companies, including Petro-Canada, Imperial Oil and Suncor Energy.” The premier’s rejection of this corporate call is stunning, and not just because it’s election time and six in ten Albertans now say that the pace of expansion in the tar sands is harming the planet. But rather, the three environmentally-sensitive areas that would be ‘protected’ under this time-limited moratorium are of minimal interest to the energy corporations for now, the bitumen there is thin and low-grade, billions have to be spent elsewhere on the tar sands before these tracts are even considered, and there are already labour shortages for existing tar sands projects. Suncor sits on the North American Competitiveness Council, which has been pushing intensified tar sands development through the SPP, which makes their participation in the corporate call for a slowdown somewhat interesting. They have joined 45 other industry, government and other groups in the Cumulative Environmental Management Association whose objectives include to “Ensure that an effective and efficient, stakeholder-driven, regional environmental management system is established.” Also yesterday, Treaty Chiefs representing the Treaties 6,7 and 8 nations of Alberta announced that they had met last week and passed a resolution, unanimously, to support the calls for no new oil sands approvals until Treaty First Nations have approved a comprehensive watershed management plan and resource development plan for the region. "It is time for the Alberta Government to feel the pressure that our communities have been feeling for so long, the tide has turned in our favour," said Chief Allan Adam of the Fort Chipewyan First Nation, "Thresholds have to be put in place that will protect ecosystem and human health along with the well being of our land." Ensuring the effective exploitation of the tar sands is an SPP priority, mostly to supply the massive U.S. market for oil. Canada now produces about 40 per cent more oil than it consumes, but has to rely heavily on imported oil from offshore. Thanks to NAFTA, Canada now exports 70 per cent of the oil and 61 per cent of the natural gas we produce each year to the United States. NAFTA prevents us from selling our energy resources at rates lower than we sell them in the U.S. We also can’t ever cut back on the proportion of energy we produce and sell to the United States, even in times when our country runs short. The Security and Prosperity Partnership Oil Sands Workshop Report from January 24-25, 2006 says that, "It will be necessary to look at options and plan for a smooth transition towards bitumen production that could be as high as 5 million barrels per day as was envisioned by the Oil Sands Technology Roadmap. “The fivefold expansion anticipated for oil sands products in a relatively short time span will represent many challenges for the pipeline industry,” it says. On February 2, 2007, the Globe and Mail reported that, "What's clear is that the need for infrastructure in order to get natural gas and oil to new and existing markets is only going to increase in the years to come." This past weekend, the Globe also reported: "The National Energy Board has given its approval of the $2-billion Alberta Clipper oil pipeline proposed by Enbridge Inc... The pipeline will stretch from Alberta to Wisconsin." Late last week, the Globe and Mail reported: "Enbridge Inc. says the National Energy Board has approved the $2.2-billion (U.S.) Southern Lights pipeline project, which will ship chemicals from the U.S. Midwest to northern Alberta for oil sands development. The new line will carry 180,000 barrels per day of diluent - light hydrocarbons or chemicals used to dilute the oil sands enough to allow it to flow through pipelines." These approvals were reported on February 25 in the Globe under the headline: Pipeline approvals take pressure off strained network. It’s crucial that Canadians now demand that the Harper government and Stelmach’s Conservative government in Alberta put a stop to new pipeline approvals and that decisions made by the National Energy Board be forwarded to the federal cabinet for final determination. For a list of previously approved oil and gas pipelines linked to the tar sands, see our December 13 post.
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