At 10:30 a.m today, on the steps of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, the Marie Lake Air and Watershed Society (MLAWS) will present over 1,200 signatures to deny approval of a new oilsands project that will use untried technology to extract bitumen underneath pristine Marie Lake. The Pembina Institute is working with MLAWS in an effort to prevent the oilsands rush from destroying Alberta's natural heritage.
Marie Lake is located in the Beaver River Drainage Basin 26 kilometres north of the Town of Cold Lake. University of Alberta's Alberta Lake Management Society (ALMS) has touted Marie Lake as one of the few lakes of exceptional water quality left in Alberta. The Government of Alberta has leased the oilsands reserves below Marie Lake. The Oilsands Underground Mining Corporation (OSUM Corp.) has applied to conduct an extensive 3D seismic experiment on and around the lake as the first step in a project that would attempt to extract the oil using a two-kilometre vertical shaft and potentially up to 100 horizontal steam assisted gravity drainage directional wells under the lake. To gather the seismic data, it is expected that the lake would be subjected to thousands of sonic blasts from floating air cannons designed to penetrate rock layers below the lake.
MLAWS, a local group of 120 private landowners and recreationists, are concerned that the government has given the green light to development without adequate consideration of cumulative impacts on the aquatic ecosystem that has already been compromised by 20 years of in situ oilsands development on the surrounding lands. "Marie Lake has demonstrated incredible resilience to the surrounding oilsands activity; this project could tip the scale and significantly impact its vulnerable Walleye and Northern Pike fish populations," says MLAWS chair, Don Savard. "The Alberta government has momentarily delayed the project, and we hope that this delay allows for decision making that incorporates the lake's social and ecological attributes."
"The Alberta Government's singular focus on rapid oilsands growth has triggered an oilsands rush. The time has come for the Government to place the priority on environmental protection," says Chris Severson-Baker, Director of the Pembina Institute's Energy Watch program. "A decision to allow the seismic program to proceed and to go forward with experimental drilling under a pristine Alberta lake is a decision to place oilsands ahead of the environment."
MLAWS and the Pembina Institute are calling for a long-term land use plan to be developed in consultation with all stakeholders of the Marie Lake watershed. Without such a plan, no precautions will be in place for the future protection of Marie Lake's important ecological and social values.
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For more information contact:
Chris Severson-Baker
The Pembina Institute
403-269-3344 ext. 101
Don Savard
Marie Lake Air and Watershed Society
780-446-5222
For more information about oilsands visit www.pembina.org/oil-sands