A controversial land use bill that has been a hot topic in provincial politics and the Progressive Conservative leadership race showed up in the U.S. State Department’s environmental assessment of the Keystone XL pipeline last week.
The environmental impact statement gave a positive assessment of the proposed pipeline from Alberta to the Gulf Coast of the United States for Alberta crude oil and specifically cited Bill 36, the Alberta Land Stewardship Act, as a sign the province was serious about conservation and the environmental impacts of the oilsands.
“The plan would require cancellation of about 10 oilsands leases, set aside nearly 20,000 square kilometers for conservation, and set new environmental standards for the region in an effort to protect sensitive habitat, wildlife, and forest land,” reads the document regarding the bill.
The bill gives legislative authority to several proposed regional plans developed around the province’s watersheds. The first plan the province has drafted concerns the oilsands area around the lower Athabasca watershed and a new version of the document was also released last week.
Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Ted Morton, who helped author the bill as sustainable resource development minister, mentioned the State Department reference during an editorial board with the St. Albert Gazette last week.
Morton said having plans for conservation and environmental responsibility are very important to the international image of the oilsands.
“The lower Athabasca regional plan that was released this week is crucial to Alberta’s future, and if we don’t proceed with that, we risk losing access to export markets, particularly the U.S., and we risk Ottawa coming in and managing the oilsands for us.”
Morton said he believes that shows the plan is having its desired effect.
“It seems to me that is a big vote of confidence for the lower Athabasca regional plan.”
Critics of the plan have argued it strips landowners of their rights. Wildrose leader Danielle Smith said conservation and environmental stewardship are laudable goals, but the province’s approach is a huge infringement on landowner rights.
“That is a silly argument. The idea that you have to trample over landowner rights and cancel leases in order to curry favour with the U.S. government is nonsense.”
Smith said the government can achieve the conservation goals it wants without taking away rights from landowners.
“We believe, along the way towards getting to that objective, how you do it matters,” she said. “You need to demonstrate to the investment community that they can have some confidence in the kind of environment they are investing and, at the same time, you are going to be ensuring that development takes places with a minimal amount of impact on the land.”
Other PC candidates have also suggested changes are necessary to bring the bill in line.
Rick Orman has promised to repeal the bill outright.
Alison Redford suggested the bill can be changed to better reflect what Albertans want. She said Albertans were consulted on the idea beforehand, but some don’t recognize the bill in its present form.
“What Albertans said was this legislation does not reflect what we have been doing or what we thought we were going to get and we have some questions.”
She said the government needs to do a better job of listening to Albertans on the issue.
“Government has to know that when Albertans say, ‘This is not what we want,’ the right answer is not, ‘Oh, you don’t understand it. I will bring my lawyers to explain it to you.’”
Doug Horner argued the government should finish drafting the regional land use plans before implementing the legislation. When appearing in St. Albert last month, he also said he would ensure the bill did not take away landowner rights.
“If anyone loses a compensatable right that they currently have today, because of the land use framework, I will personally stand up and introduce the fix, because I am a landowner too.”
Gary Mar has pledged to suspend the bill’s implementation and Doug Griffiths has committed to studying the issue further through an all-party committee to make sure landowner rights are protected.
