The Canadian Press reports, “Twenty-one groups are calling on Alberta’s energy watchdog [the Alberta Energy Regulator, AER] to reject another application by Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. [CNRL] to resume steaming near the site of a months-long bitumen spill.”
The 21 groups include the Council of Canadians, Greenpeace Canada, Keepers of the Athabasca, and the Sierra Club of Canada.
The open letter we signed states, “No new steaming activity should occur on CNRL’s Primrose property, including Primrose East and South, until the AER has completed its investigation into these blowouts. The AER must determine the root cause of these blowouts and must identify solutions to ensure events of a similar nature do not reoccur.”
Global News explains, “More than a million litres of bitumen have spilled so far from Canadian Natural Resources, Ltd.’s Primrose sites… And the leaks show no sign of stopping…. Canadian Natural applied last month for permission to start high-pressure steam operations at a Primrose South site. The closest well is about 500 metres away from the one-kilometre exclusion zone the province set up last summer around one of the spill sites.” The Canadian Press adds, “Last Friday, the AER told CNRL it would deny its application to steam at a different location in a ‘restricted zone’ – imposed by the AER last spring when an emulsion of bitumen and water was found to be oozing to the surface.”
“Calgary-based CNRL [says] it would aim to resume steaming at Primrose this month or next.”
Take Action!
The Alberta Energy Regulator is hearing a lot of opposition to this. “As of Friday, more than 1,800 people have signed a petition demanding the AER deny CNRL’s requests and investigate the safety of the extraction technique the company uses at Primrose.”
Sign the petition that says, “Deny Canadian Natural Resources Limited’s application to resume tar sand blasting in the Cold Lake region, and conduct an independent investigation into the safety of ‘in situ’ mining.”
