Edmonton/CMEDIA: Alberta’s energy regulator is reconsidering Fort Hills oil sands approved months ago after receiving a critical report on Fort Hills Energy’s plan to mine oil sands from a unique carbon-storing wetland.
After a two-decade regulatory history and the submission by Fort Hills, the Alberta Energy Regulator approved in September plans to mine a portion of the McClelland Lake Wetland Complex — a large and intact wetland that lies partly within the company’s lease once considered for environmental protection — saying it could mine about half the wetland without affecting the remainder.
But in March, the regulator was presented with an independent scientific analysis of the company’s plan by Alberta Wilderness Association that found significant shortfalls and asked the regulator to revisit its decision.
According to the legislation the regulator may confirm, vary, suspend or revoke its decisions, with or without a hearing.
The McClelland Lake complex, about 90 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, comprises two large patterned fens housing twenty rare or endangered plant species and communities and the complex is being used by more than 200 migratory bird species, including endangered whooping cranes as a stopover.
The complex also contains 11,000 years worth of accumulated carbon-rich peat and has been used by the First Nations for centuries and represents a tiny fraction of Alberta’s 4,750 square kilometres of mineable oil sands.
The Alberta Wilderness Association wants the complex protected and was excluded from development in 1996.
That exclusion was lifted in 2002 for the part of the wetland within an oil sands lease then owned by True North Energy which now belongs to Fort Hills Energy, majority-owned by Suncor Energy Inc.
Suncor Energy Inc. is committed to protecting the unmined portion of the wetland.
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