The Boreal Forest

CALGARY -- The government of the Canadian province of Alberta said Thursday it has laid nine charges against Suncor Energy Inc, alleging the company failed to properly manage storm water runoff at a construction site in northern Alberta’s oil sands in May 2008.

Alberta said in a release that the company did not follow a water-management plan after storm water, a mix of water and dirt from the Voyageur upgrader construction site flowed into the Athabasca River.

Suncor, which could not be immediately reached for comment, is also alleged to have provided misleading information to Alberta’s environment department about the runoff.

The charges will be heard in a Fort McMurray, Alberta, court on Nov. 3. They carry a total maximum fine of $500,000.

CALGARY — Public consultations will begin next month on a sweeping plan for Alberta's oilsands region that could see 20 per cent or more of the landscape set aside for conservation purposes, government officials say.

"There will be a change in the acreage that's under conservation," Sustainable Resource Development Minister Mel Knight said Thursday.

In question is an area the government calls the Lower Athabasca and encompasses the northeastern part of the province, including Fort McMurray, the Municipality of Wood Buffalo, Lac La Biche and Bonnyville.

Knight said he hopes cabinet will approve a legally binding plan for the region early in the new year. The plan is supposed to include details about where development is allowed to occur and what lands are protected.

But there is no doubt major conflicts will flare.... Read more »

Sierra Club Canada joined with the No Tar Sands Oil network group on a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming Chair Edward Markey in preparation for their September 2010 trip to Canada. The letter thanks them for their efforts to transition the United States to a clean energy future. It also highlights the importance of stopping the Keystone XL pipeline so as to stop America's increasing addiction to the world's dirtiest oil... so that a clean, just, energy future can be possible.

Results from a study led by University of Alberta scientists, published Aug. 30 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) (www.pnas.org), show that mercury, arsenic, lead, cadmium and other metals toxic at trace levels are showing up in the Athabasca River watershed in the area of Alberta's oilsands projects.

This evidence contradicts results from the Regional Aquatic Monitoring Program (RAMP), which studies impacts of the oilsands on the region's watersheds. RAMP consistently reports negligible increases in pollutants compared to natural background levels. Based on this evidence, industry and the Alberta government take the view that pollutants in the region's watershed come from natural sources, not the oilsands developments.... Read more »