E-Sierran
michael matthys
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E-Sierran |
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In This Issue: · Events & Action Alerts · Media Releases · Tar Sands · Blogs
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Greetings Sierrans, and apologies for the delay since the last issue. There have been important developments with respect to the tar sands since the last issue. The province has drafted a land use plan for the Lower Athabasca Region (LARP) that will pave the way for a six-fold increase in tar sands production while failing to address the environmental concerns stemming from current production levels! Read more about the implications of the LARP and what you can do here. The LARP will also infringe on First Nation treaty rights by impinging their ability to practice a traditional lifestyle. More on how the LARP impact Treaty rights here. There is increasing pressure on the Province for its plan to allow clear-cut logging in Castle this summer. Multiple grassroots organizations have added their names to the list of opposition groups, read more here. There is also a locally initiated market action asking lumber retailers to not sell lumber from Spray Lake Sawmills (SLS) until Castle Special Place is off the block and SLS along with Alberta Sustainable Resource Development have undergone FSC certification to reform their forest management practices. More about the market action and what you can do to help, here. A recent scientific study has drawn a connection between fracking and the contamination of drinking water with methane gas. In some cases researchers have found concentrations 17 times above normal in samples taken near drill sites. More on the report and a link to download it after the jump.
And for those of you in Edmonton there will be a public hearing on mining in the river valley on Monday May 16 starting at 9:30am. Specifically at issue is a proposal from Kaanata mines to begin work on gravel extraction pit. Come out and tell your councillors you don't want mining in the river valley! More information can be found here.
Events & Action Alerts ACTION ALERT! The Lower Athabasca Region cannot be a sacrifice zone for further tar sands destruction! Just before the Federal Election, the Alberta government released a draft of the Lower Athabasca Land Use Plan (LARP). The LARP fails to address local social and environmental needs, and is based on a projection of continued tar sands extraction and a six-fold increase in production. This would decimate this fragile region and the people and species living in it. As usual, the Alberta government is prioritizing the interests of big industry over the voices of local residents and the needs of the environment. At the very least we need an independent review of this land-use plan! Opportunity for public input will continue until June 6th - Please take a moment to take one of the actions listed and make your concerns heard! Text Sierra to 45678 to make a $10 donation!
A Reuse Fair is a one-day community event where unwanted but reusable household items are collected and passed on to charities, non-profits, artisans and schools that need them.
May 28 Queen Alexandra Community League, 10425 University Avenue
- Local biodiversity presentations: "My Favourite Wild Places" by naturalist Jim Butler and "12 Common Mushrooms of the Edmonton Area" by Martin Osis of the Alberta Mycological Society
Hands-on Workshops: - Create a worm composter with Master Composter/Recycler Christine Werk - Learn to create artificial nest sites to attract beneficial insects to your yard, with naturalist Markus Eymann - Learn to identify local trees with City of Edmonton Urban Forester Megan Rogers - Learn about native plants (and take home some seeds!) for your garden with the Edmonton Naturalization Group's Cherry Dodd
City of Edmonton Public Hearing – Mining in the River Valley, May 16 10am-9:30pm. Let your councilors know you don’t want mining in the river valley! Media ReleasesDraft Athabasca Land Use Plan Infringes Treaty 8 Alberta Government’s Department of Sustainable Resource Development, headed by Minister Mel Knight, released the draft Lower Athabasca Region Plan (LARP). The draft plan proposes a 16% increase to conservation areas in the oil sands region, which is significantly less than the recommendations from the Regional Advisory Council (RAC), who advised up to 32%, and considerably less than recommendations from First Nations. Fracking operations increase risk of drinking water contamination: new study For the first time, a scientific study has linked natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") with a pattern of drinking water contamination so severe that some faucets can be lit on fire. The study can be downloaded here. Researchers found, on average, methane concentrations 17 times above normal in samples taken near drilling sites.
Castle Wilderness Canada’s “battle in the woods” flares up in Prairie headwaters A market action against clear-cut logging in the southern headwaters of the Prairie Provinces has been launched by local and national conservation groups, with international ones adding their names to the grassroots action. It focuses on the Crowsnest Forest, which is located at the head of the water-stressed South Saskatchewan River system, between Kananaskis Country west of Calgary and the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. The Crowsnest falls within the international Crown of the Continent geotourism area. It is the southern part of the public Rocky Mountains Forest Reserve, which the governments of Canada and Alberta historically described as important to the nation as a “conservation area dedicated to watershed management.” International pressure mounting to protect Alberta’s Castle wilderness The international conservation community warns that Alberta’s population of grizzly bears is in increasingly dire straits in the Castle wilderness just north of the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. As a result, clear-cut logging slated for the Castle this summer is receiving international scrutiny. Plans for logging Castle criticized by local residents A vast majority of residents living around the Castle Special Place favor creation of a Wildland Park there and oppose logging inside it, a new survey by The Praxis Group of Calgary shows. The Castle, technically called the Castle Special Management Area and one of the province's 81 designated Special Place protected areas, is located between Waterton Lakes National Park and the Crowsnest Pass, within Alberta's portion of the international Crown of the Continent ecosystem and geotourism area.
Pipelines Dirty Business: How TransCanada Pipelines bullies farmers, manipulates oil markets, threatens fresh water, and skimps on safety in the United States A new report, Dirty Business: How TransCanada Pipelines bullies farmers, manipulates oil markets, threatens fresh water and skimps on safety in the United States, examines the tactics and motivations of TransCanada Pipelines, one of the continent’s largest pipeline companies, as it pushes for approval of its proposed mega-project, the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline. Harper out of step with majority of British Columbians on oil tankers Prime Minister Stephen Harper is seriously out of step with the vast majority of British Columbians on the issue of oil tanker traffic through the Great Bear Rainforest, the Sierra Club said today. “Prime Minister Harper is dead wrong in his assessment that the people of B.C. do not support calls by other political parties for a ban on crude oil tankers along Canada’s west coast,” said Sierra Club BC spokesperson Caitlyn Vernon. “Opposition to the proposed Northern Gateway project is strong, united and rapidly growing.” Residents, including children, sick after large oil spill in the Peace Region Little Buffalo community members, including school children, continue to experience nausea, burning eyes and headaches after one of the largest pipeline spills in Alberta history last Friday by Plains All American leaked nearly 30,000 barrels of oil into Lubicon traditional territory in the Peace Region of Northern Alberta. Tar SandsFirst Nations youth warns CIBC to back off financing for Enbridge First Nations youth leader, Jasmine Thomas, age 24, is attending CIBC's annual meeting in Winnipeg today to warn shareholders and executives: Do not finance Enbridge or its Northern Gateway Pipeline project, since Enbridge fails to respect the authority of First Nations along the proposed pipeline route.
‘Tar Sands’ vs. ‘Oil Sands’ Political Flap Misguided? The debate over whether to use "oil sands" versus "tar sands" is about way more than terminology. And never has that been more obvious than during the current federal election. Just last week, the Calgary Herald ran an editorial lambasting NDP leader Jack Layton for the word choice he made in week one of the campaign.
When John Beaton first heard about Opti-Nexen's proposals to withdraw 17,000 cubic meters of water a day from the fabled Clearwater River last year, the oil sands mechanic just shook his head. "That's a Heritage River. The government will never allow it," thought the 41-year-old Fort McMurray resident. Beaton and his wife even signed a petition against the scheme along with nearly 2,000 other residents.
Mikisew Cree disagree with province’s draft plan The Mikisew Cree First Nation is vehemently rejecting the province's latest attempt to balance oilsands production with environmental stewardship. Adding insult to injury is the fact that the First Nation has been consulting with and providing information to the province about land-use concerns long before the land-use secretariat was created, said Melody Lepine, director of government and industry relations for the Mikisew Cree, this morning. Nuclear PowerIs Canada prepared for a nuclear disaster? Ottawa's invested too much and grown too close to act as an independent regulator, critics say. To tackle the problem, they're calling for a non-partisan royal commission inquiry into the future of the country's nuclear power industry. Gordon Edwards, president and co-founder of the Canadian Coalition of Nuclear Responsibility, said the federal government is "completely dependent on the nuclear industry to tell them what to do." “If we were to have a nuclear emergency in Canada, we would be at the mercy of industry,” he said. “We have not developed alternative nuclear experts who we can turn to."
Japan Nuclear Disaster Put on Par with Chernobyl According to the International Nuclear Event Scale, a level 7 nuclear accident involves “widespread health and environmental effects” and the “external release of a significant fraction of the reactor core inventory.”
Blogs
The oil and gas industry is trying to set foot in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and this prospect worries a lot of people directly concerned by the gulf's health: fishermen, tourist industry, coastal communities, etc. These are not abstract fears, because a very real exploratory drilling project has been recently announced by Corridor Resources for the Old Harry site.
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