News Release: ENGOs Call on AER to Revoke Approval of Suncor’s Flawed Operational Plan for the McClelland Lake Wetland Complex
May 8, 2023
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Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA) along with six other concerned environmental organizations from across Canada are asking the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) to reconsider and revoke its approval of Suncor’s McClelland Lake Wetland Complex (MLWC) Operational Plan for the Fort Hills Oil Sands Project. As part of AER’s reconsideration process, today, AWA has submitted to AER the exceptional and compelling reasons why AER should reconsider its approval of Suncor’s Operational Plan for the McClelland Lake Wetland Complex.
“The major deficiencies and uncertainties in Suncor’s Plan uncovered by our April 2023 expert review is new information which AWA did not have a reasonable opportunity to provide AER before its initial decision,” said Phillip Meintzer, Conservation Specialist with AWA. “The findings of the expert review should lead the regulator to revoke its approval of Suncor’s McClelland wetlands plan”.
“The Fort Hills expansion, if it proceeds, will add undue burden on a watershed that is already stressed from existing oil sands projects and leaking tailings. Without strong evidence to show impacts can be avoided in any reasonable way, the Alberta Energy Regulator should take the opportunity to prove it can make decisions that protect the environment and wildlife,” says Gillian Chow-Fraser, CPAWS Northern Alberta.
New information in AWA’s report indicates that the Operational Plan does not satisfy the condition that it guarantee the protection of the unmined portion of the McClelland Lake Wetland Complex. Suncor’s mitigation strategy poses a significant risk of irreversible damage to the unmined portion of the McClelland Lake Wetland Complex. This violates conditions of the Project’s 2002/2015 Water Act approvals and 2002 EUB Decision Report, and therefore, it should not have been approved by the AER. Suncor’s Operational Plan was approved by the AER on September 9, 2022, by Letter of Authorization.
“Suncor claims they can place a large underground wall in the middle of a sensitive wetland area and guarantee that no harm will come from mining next door”, says Phillip Meintzer. “The wall, wells, pipelines, and staff need to work flawlessly for decades for Suncor’s plan to succeed, yet recent evidence shows that they can’t even prevent a spill from a much simpler sedimentation pond at the same Fort Hills mine.”
The major concerns with Suncor’s McClelland wetland Operational Plan uncovered in AWA’s expert review report include:
- Not addressing potential saline contamination of the fresh surface water and groundwater that sustains these wetlands;
- Lack of modelling for potential impacts to groundwater quality;
- Insufficient observational data to support the water flow models;
- Uncertainty and risk with proposed “conceptual stage” plan for a large underground wall and water pipeline system to be inserted, operated and reclaimed within the wetland complex without harming the unmined portion;
- Assumption of negligible impacts from predicted water level changes;
- Unrecognized impacts to the ecological integrity and functionality of the patterned fen; and
- Unrecognized impacts to peatland carbon stores and the resulting increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
The full report PDF is available from AWA’s website at the link below:
AWA’s Request for Reconsideration was submitted to the AER on Monday, May 8, 2023, pursuant to section 42 of the Responsible Energy Development Act (REDA), under which the AER may, in its sole discretion, reconsider a decision made by it and may confirm, vary, suspend or revoke the decision.
For more information, please contact: Phillip Meintzer, AWA Conservation Specialist, (403) 283-2025, pmeintzer@abwild.ca
Co-signatories:
Jesse Cardinal, Executive Director, Keepers of the Water
Aliénor Rougeot, Climate and Energy Program Manager, Environmental Defence Canada
Gillian Chow-Fraser, Boreal Program Director, CPAWS Northern Alberta
Emily McMillan, Executive Director, Nature Canada
Wendy E. Roberts Thorne, M.E.Des. (Environmental Science), P.Eng., On behalf of the executive of Canadian Federation of University Women, Calgary North Chapter
Natalie Odd, Executive Director, Alberta Environmental Network
