Alberta Energy Consultation: KEEP OUT! Lethbridge Community and Groups Excluded from Urban Drilling Meeting

Uninvited guests by Dave Mabell, June 24, 2014, Lethbridge Herald

2014 06 25 Univited guests Alberta Energy and Regulator Exclude the communty from Urban Drilling meeting

Tony Hall, along with a group of protesters, express their concerns to officials including Greg Weadick, Lethbridge-West MLA and Minister of Municipal Affairs, after walking in before the start of an invitation-only Alberta Energy session Tuesday morning at the Coast Hotel and Conference Centre. Herald photo by Ian Martens

They weren’t the government’s invited guests. But concerned Lethbridge citizens made certain their views on urban drilling were heard. About a dozen members of local environmental groups walked into a hotel ballroom Tuesday morning, ahead of a by-invitation-only Alberta Energy session with representatives of the city, the county and other local authorities.

Wearing signs like “Excluded,” they stayed for a pointed discussion with Lethbridge cabinet minister Greg Weadick and others heading up the half-day meeting. Having been given the opportunity to speak at previous Lethbridge meetings on urban drilling, members said they’d hoped to be heard as the Conservative government begins to write a new policy on the issue.

That policy was promised two years ago, environmentalists point out, but oil companies have remained free to apply to drill inside city boundaries while the government stalls. Meanwhile a Calgary company, Goldenkey Oil, announced plans to drill three wells in west Lethbridge. It later withdrew after massive civic protest.

But not before the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce, the city’s school boards and others joined voice with Lethbridge city council in demanding an end to urban drilling across Alberta until an official policy is created. Mayor Chris Spearman, one of those on Tuesday’s invitation list, said later the Lethbridge meeting did little to build the public’s confidence in Alberta’s government-appointed oil and gas “regulator.”

“Open public engagement didn’t take place,” and the public was not allowed to hear the presentations. But the mayor said the local environmental group spoke for many Lethbridge citizens. “We have heard loud and clear what their views are,” he pointed out.

Much of the morning, according to an official agenda, was spent on presentations from Alberta Energy, the Alberta Energy Regulator, Alberta Municipal Affairs, the Alberta Surface Rights Board, the Property Rights Advocate and Alberta Health Services.2012 07 26 AlbertaHealthReplyToFracingConcernsRaisedbyJessicaErnst

In his presentation, the mayor said, Lethbridge council called for revisions to the province’s Municipal Government Act, to give cities and towns the final say on whether oil or gas wells may be drilled inside an urban area.

“We need a legislated right to regulate what happens within our municipal boundaries,” Spearman said. Mayors and councils across southern Alberta agree with Lethbridge on that, he said — and so do council members in other parts of the province.

As elected representatives, he said, city and town council members have to answer to their electorate, whatever their decisions.

“But the Alberta Energy Regulator is accountable to no one,” Spearman said. “And there is no method of appeal.”

By rejecting Lethbridge groups’ request for participation, he added, Alberta Energy officials reinforced ordinary Albertan’s distrust in the energy department’s appointed regulators. “The public does not have confidence in the Alberta Energy Regulator” because of its close ties to the industry, he warned.

“They see it as the Alberta Energy Facilitator.” [Emphasis added]

[Refer also to:

May 12, 2014: Communities want more input in urban drilling decisions; What about already harmed rural communities? We don’t count?

March 19, 2014: Fracking task force struck (Diana McQueen later changed it to a fracing “round table”) for Alberta, but not for already harmed rural families with dangerously contaminated drinking water and polluted air, only for Albertans not yet frac’d in cities

March 8, 2014: Oil wells and the Alberta city: Rift widens between worried families, elected officials and school boards, and the industry

March 1, 2014: Alberta municipalities have no power over oil and gas development within city limits; Minister of Energy Diana McQueen appears to be setting up to synergize (silence) cities opposed

January 13, 2014: Lethbridge residents and council fight proposed sour oil drilling and fracing by Goldenkey Oil. Inc. in city limits and near school

December 13, 2013: School board in Lethbridge wants stakeholder status; School district opposes proposed oil-drilling and frac’ing project in west Lethbridge

2014 04 09 C Abel frac Cartoon Frack to School

September 2, 2013: Kaiser kills Calgary Royal Oak drill and frac for oil 400 metres from homes, Residents in Calgary community celebrate after Kaiser Energy scrapped urban frac plans but worry 2,300 metres is not far enough

May 9, 2013: Alberta to complete review on urban oil drilling, Planned well in Calgary suburb sparks controversy

June 25, 2013: Tories crafting policy for urban oil well drilling

June 24, 2013: New policy coming on urban drilling, says province, MLA makes announcement as 200 Rocky Ridge, Royal Oak residents rallied Sunday

April 17, 2013: Proposed oil well to be fracked inside the City of Calgary puts residents and the industry on a collision course

April 9, 2013: Progressive Conservative (PC) candidate Sandra Jensen calls for a stop to the Kaiser Exploration Ltd. Oil Well in the City of Calgary

March 31, 2013: Kaiser Oil Well to be frac’d in Calgary near sour gas, letter to Premier Alison Redford

February 27, 2012: Thirty Year Old Study States Contaminated Well Water Is Irreversible

2012 02 21 Ernst Presentation Belcoo Fermanagh Northern Ireland ERCB (Previously EUB, soon to be AER) Bulletin 2011-29 Deregulates Frac Hell is Imminent

Slide from Ernst presentation in Lethbridge in 2011

The City of Courtenay is on the Comox Valley Water Supply System, passed a resolution in March 2006 declaring water as a public good:

“THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Council of the City of Courtenay recognizes and affirms that

• Water supports and connects all life and access to clean water is essential to the health and sustainability of al life on this planet

• The value of earth’s fresh water to the common good takes priority over any possible commercial value

• Fresh water is a legacy, a public trust, and a collective responsibility

This entry was posted in Global Frac News. Bookmark the permalink.