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Mixed messages: Drilling denied, along with environmental concerns
The Canadian government shows signs of working at cross purposes with itself when it comes to balancing environmental protection with resource development.
Environment Minister Peter Kent was quick to proclaim his decision on Nov. 30 to block plans by Cenovus Energy to drill 1,275 new shallow gas wells on a military base in southeastern Alberta as proof positive that his government will not “give an automatic green light for all development projects.”
The ruling took seven years to reach and was based on the recommendations of a Joint Review Panel, identification of critical habitat and study of significant environmental impacts.
“The potential environmental effects of the project would be significantly negative and cannot be mitigated in any way. They aren’t justified under the circumstances,” Kent said. “The project would impact 90 percent of the habitat in the National Wildlife Area.”
But the strong message from Kent was softened by unrelated briefing material obtained through access to information legislation, which disclosed some of the buildup to the government’s overhaul this year of environmental laws to reduce federal oversight and duplication of federal and provincial assessments, eliminating nearly 3,000 environmental reviews of existing projects.
Duplication issue The briefing papers showed that last year Environment Canada officials told Kent the government had already “effectively” addressed the duplication issue, eliminating any need to further shrink its authority in evaluating projects.
The officials said the petroleum industry wanted to place limits in the range of powers of environmental assessments — a move they warned would “weaken public trust and credibility ... especially when applied to major projects such as oil sands developments,” while making it more difficult to consult with aboriginal groups.
Greenpeace Canada climate and energy campaigner Keith Stewart said this year’s changes to legislation are “rigged (in favor) of Big Oil.”
He said the ruling on the Cenovus gas wells only indicated that the government was prepared to reject projects that the industry did not really want. “It’s a PR tactic,” he said.
However, Cliff Wallis, a spokesman for the Alberta Wilderness Association, described the verdict as a “big win ... we don’t get many these days and it clearly sets a high bar for how protected areas are supposed to be managed.”
On military base for more than 40 years Cenovus, although focused on oil and liquids development since the breakup of Encana into separate oil and natural gas entities, has been using the gas it produces as a hedge for its oil sands and refining operations, although it has been cutting its gas output by 10 to 12 percent a year.
It was confident it could have drilled about 425 wells a winter in a manner that would have caused only minimal disturbance to the environment in an area where thousands of wells have been drilled.
Cenovus and its predecessor companies have been operating on the military base for more than 40 years and helped create the National Wildlife Area in 2003, partly on the understanding that oil and gas development could continue on a site where 1,145 wells had been completed.
A spokeswoman for the company said “we feel this is a resource that we have the right to access.” But Cenovus has no plans to seek compensation from the Canadian government.
Cenovus has 25,000 producing gas wells across southern Alberta and expects that its existing wells in the National Wildlife Area will continue to produce for 20 to 40 years.
Alberta Premier Alison Redford expressed her disappointment, but said the provincial government accepted the need for development to occur “in a way that’s environmentally sustainable.”
—Gary Park
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