EDMONTON - Some Albertans are turning to a vocal U.S. environmental group for information on pipeline safety that they say they can't get from their own government.
Four environmental and landowners organizations have asked an expert from the Washington-based Natural Resources Defense Council to talk to them about what Albertans should be concerned about regarding the province's aging pipeline network.
The council is one of the largest "green" groups in the United States and a determined critic of the proposed Keystone XL project, which would bring oilsands bitumen to refineries on the Gulf Coast.
Don Bester of the Alberta Surface Rights Group says the groups are being forced to turn to outside experts because Alberta won't release its pipeline safety report.
Bester says he hopes three workshops scheduled for next week will pressure Alberta Energy Minister Ken Hughes to release the report, which was completed last year.
