EDMONTON - The Alberta government has reaffirmed its unbending stand against curbing the frantic pace of development in the sprawling oilsands region, despite concerns raised by a government-appointed review group.
The 19-member committee released its final report Wednesday on how to proceed with oilsands development. Committee chairman Van MacNichol says the report calls for "orderly development.''
"Most people who attended our hearings, they're talking about a balance of social, economic and environmental elements,'' MacNichol said in an interview. "You look at all those things.''
But Energy Minister Mel Knight says the government is not about to start telling the energy industry to delay billions of dollars worth of upgrader projects in northern Alberta.
"The premier has indicated that the government will not put the brakes on this industry,'' Knight said Wednesday in an interview. The energy minister also said the government shouldn't be deciding when an industry should or should not go ahead with development.
"We're going to continue to allow industry to be the very best people to make those determinations.''
Industry has all the tools required to determine whether it's the right time to invest and whether other issues can be resolved, including environmental and labour concerns, he said.
"Whether or not they can get supplies and services and steel and people,'' said Knight. "They'll make those determinations.''
The committee included representatives from the energy industry and the provincial, federal and local governments, as well as native leaders and environmentalists. They were not able to reach a consensus of whether to slow down new projects because of major shortages of workers, housing and other infrastructure.
Environmentalists clashed with energy and government officials over a proposed moratorium on new oilsands projects. The energy industry also rejected the idea of capping air emissions from new upgraders.
Dan Woynillowicz, an environmentalist with the Pembina Institute, says the energy industry and the government were unbending and chose to protect the status quo.
"Albertans are likely to be deeply disappointed with the fact that the committee wasn't able to reach agreement as to what needs to happen to rein in the runaway pace of oilsands development,'' said Woynillowicz. "That issue really emerged through the public consultations as the key concern for Albertans.''
People are tired of seeing the negative impacts of rapid growth, including huge rent increases and a shortage of housing in some communities, he said. "They would much rather see the government managing the rate of growth as opposed to managing the consequences of growth.''
Industry and government officials on the committee also dismissed a proposal to limit water use from the Athabasca River.
MacNichol says there was agreement on 96 issues, including land reclamation once the giant oilsands pits are depleted.
"I regretted that we didn't come to a consensus on pace of development, on environment and governance,'' said MacNichol, a retired deputy minister.
"I've asked the government to look at not only the ones we had consensus on,'' he said. "Because people have sort of put their cards on the table on how they view those non-consensus issues right now.''
