May 13, 2014
Birds and Tar Sands Tailings Ponds: Ever Safe to Land?
Wild Lands Advocate article, April 2014, by Carolyn Campbell. The Oil Sands Regional Bird Monitoring…
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AWA believes that energy exploration and development must be regulated in a manner that is consistent with the maintenance of wilderness values.
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AWA’s mandate throughout its four decades has been the protection of intact, representative ecosystems across Alberta. In areas where economic development is integrated within a working landscape, AWA supports robust management, regulation, and enforcement strategies.
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We believe in a fundamental need for wilderness that is free of industrial incursion; a network of legislated protected areas is currently the only framework under which this can be ensured. Outside of such areas, exploration and development must be conducted in an environmentally responsible manner. Full-field life-cycle planning must be required for all new developments including phase-out, remediation, and reclamation. Adequate reclamation liability must be assessed on a per-project basis that accounts for all remediation and reclamation costs, and does not leave Albertans vulnerable to major financial risks.
AWA believes Alberta’s wilderness and natural capital are non-renewable resources of immeasurable value, and must be considered as such and given priority in land-use planning. An overarching land-use plan is desperately needed in Alberta to set targets for all sectors, determine thresholds and establish priorities for land use throughout the province. Conservation areas must be designated with legal protection.
When considering land disturbance impacts, the cumulative footprint of all past, present and planned developments upon the landscape must be considered. Energy development does not take place in isolation: it occurs on a landscape also impacted by forestry, residential and recreational developments. The combined footprint of all of these activities must be considered in planning decisions.
Collectively, we know that the economic value of the ecosystem services performed by natural ecosystems for humankind far exceeds that of industrial development.
AWA has been involved with Shell Canada as they work to restore landscapes once active with drilling and extraction; Waterton 12 is one such site (shown above). (N. Douglas)
Seen in the photo are AWA and Shell Canada employees discussing the process and early results of reclamation efforts at this site that has reached its full life-cycle. (C. Olson)
April 16, 2014
Dark and Dirty: Time to Dethrone King Coal in Alberta
Wildlands Advocate article, February 2014, by Brittany Verbeek. Despite coal development’s significant negative impacts on…
April 10, 2014
Alberta’s Bats on Non-Licence Animal List
Letter from AWA to Honourable Robin Campbell Minister of Environment and Sustainable Resource Development. There…
March 19, 2014
A Telling Tailings Tale [audio / video]
Audio clip (14m:15s) from Terra Informa and CJSR radio highlighting the tailings pond spill at…
February 27, 2014
AWA News Release: Leases Reveal Cumulative Effects Management Absent in Alberta Tar Sands, Forests
AWA News Release. Industrial forestry and energy leasing are far outpacing environmental protection and promised…
January 15, 2014
AWA Urges Panelists to Phase Out Coal
On January 16, 2014, four Alberta politicians representing the four parties will hold a panel…
December 20, 2013
AWA News Release: Northern Gateway Pipeline–Approval Mostly Silent on Upstream Impacts for Alberta’s Boreal Forest and Foothills
The National Energy Board (NEB) yesterday recommended approval of the Northern Gateway pipeline across central…
December 20, 2013
ESRD Letter to AWA RE: Obed Mountain Coal Mine Spill
December 17, 2013
Alberta’s New Energy Regulator and Pipeline Breaches: Will We See Better Disclosure?
Wild Lands Advocate update, October 2013, by Sean Nichols. The information regarding a pipeline spill…
December 12, 2013
Cold Lake, Hot Bitumen: CNRL’s Bitumen Blowout
Wild Lands Advocate article, October 2013, by Carolyn Campbell. A bitumen spill of 1.6 million…
December 5, 2013
New Roads, Cutblocks and Wells Undermine Little Smoky Caribou Critical Habitat
Significant new disturbance within caribou ranges in west central Alberta is destroying federally protected critical…
November 20, 2013
Toxic Oil Sands Waters Spilled by Suncor into Athabasca River in 2011 and 2013
Wild Lands Advocate article, April/May 2013, by Carolyn Campbell. A burst waste-water line at a…
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