EDMONTON — Conservation groups say Alberta is backing away from a proposal to force energy companies to restore environmentally important wetlands ruined by oilsands and mining projects.
The Sierra Club of Canada says a leaked draft of the government’s plan doesn’t include a “no-net-loss” approach recommended by the Alberta Water Council.
Instead, the August 2009 Alberta Environment draft calls for protecting “exceptional” wetlands, but notes that the vast majority in the oilsands region have a much lower value.
“This is a serious watering down of the recommended wetlands policy the council put forward,” Sheila Muxlow of the Sierra Club said Tuesday.
“We are seeing oil and gas and mining interests trump those of the community and the environment.”
Alberta has no policy to protect or restore wetlands that are destroyed by resource development in the northern half of the province.
Almost two years ago, the water council gave the province a report outlining the importance of wetlands to migrating ducks and waterfowl, songbirds, caribou and the overall environmental health of the Athabasca River basin.
The council recommended a “no-net-loss” approach that would require companies that destroy such areas to either restore them, improve a nearby depleted wetland or build a new one somewhere else in the province.
Two members of the 25-member council oppose the recommendation and have lobbied the government against it. The Alberta Chamber of Resources and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers have argued it would be too expensive for corporations to pay for such mitigation work.
Jason Cobb, an Alberta Environment spokesman, said the leaked draft isn’t the final version. He would not say whether the “no-net- loss” recommendation has been scrapped. The term isn’t used in the report.
“The goal of the policy will be to balance environmental protection with sustainable growth while protecting our most high-valued wetlands,” Cobb said.
The government originally planned to announce a new policy more than a year ago but has postponed the rollout a number of times. Earlier this year, government officials said it would be released in March or April.
Cobb said there is no firm timeline for its release.
“Government MLAs, cabinet, may ask for some changes. The process is an important one and could impact what the final version is going to look like.”
Carolyn Campbell of the Alberta Wilderness Association said the water council spent years working on the policy.
She said the draft report’s contents show that Premier Ed Stelmach’s government doesn’t want to do anything that would anger the politically powerful energy industry.
“There has been a significant weakening of the provincial wetland policy, based on this draft, compared to what the Alberta Water Council’s 23 out of 25 sectors recommended, and what public consultation showed a vast majority of Albertans supported,” Campbell said.
“All of the evidence I’ve heard in 2010 and in the fall of 2009 is that the government is most anxious to placate the energy industry.”