(Edmonton) Representatives of more than 50 provincial organizations today released an open letter calling on Premier Alison Redford to establish an independent inquiry into pipeline safety in Alberta. The organizations represent a broad cross-section of Alberta’s population, including farmer, landowner, labour, health, First Nations and environmental groups.
“The recent spate of pipeline spills has been a wake-up call for all Albertans,” said Don Bester, President of the Alberta Surface Rights Group. “We know that we have a problem with pipeline safety in this province, and we can’t afford to wait another year before starting to look at solutions or diagnosing the problem.”
The text of the open letter sent to the premier and opposition leaders reads:
Dear Premier Redford,
The recent series of major pipeline spills in the province has raised serious concerns for all Albertans about the integrity and oversight of the more than 300,000 kilometres of oil and gas pipelines that crisscross the province. These spills have brought attention to an issue that affects the entire province. Albertans deserve assurances that our pipeline infrastructure is safe, and that appropriate regulations and oversight are in place.
For this reason, we are calling on you to initiate an immediate independent province-wide review of pipeline safety in Alberta, similar to the one which was recently conducted for the Auditor General of Saskatchewan’s 2012 report.
We are encouraged that you have indicated you are “not opposed” to such a review, but we believe that such a critical issue simply cannot wait, as you have indicated, for the conclusion of the ERCB investigation into the recent spills. The average ERCB investigation takes nine months to complete, with some investigations taking years, and broader concerns related to regulation and enforcement are unlikely to be addressed by these investigations. An independent review of regulations and enforcement can and must be conducted in a parallel time frame to any ERCB investigation into individual spills.
Albertans need to know that their families, communities and drinking water are safe from pipeline spills. The time for leadership on pipeline safety is now, and the first step must be an independent pipeline safety review.
In 2011, the Energy Resources and Conservation Board (ERCB) exceeded its target for high-risk non-compliance incidents in provincial oil and gas infrastructure, including 155 pipeline infractions. In the same year, the ERCB inspected only five per cent of infrastructure in the province, relying on self-monitoring and reporting to ensure the integrity of the remaining 95 per cent. These recent incidents demonstrate that Albertans are right to question the safety of our pipeline infrastructure.
”We hope that the premier will move quickly to address the growing public concern over pipeline safety with an independent, province-wide review,” said Scott Harris, Prairies Regional Organizer with the Council of Canadians. “The time for a review is now, not after Albertans wake up to news of yet another pipeline spill.”
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Signatories to the letter are:
- Alberta Landowners Council
- Alberta Surface Rights Group
- Alberta Union of Provincial Employees
- Alberta Wilderness Association
- Alberta Workers’ Health Centre
- Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation
- Big Valley Surface Rights
- Border Surface Rights
- Butte Action Committee
- Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment
- Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society Northern Alberta Chapter
- Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society Southern Alberta Chapter
- Central Athabasca Stewardship Society
- ChangeAlberta
- Citizens for Responsible Development
- Citizens for Responsible Power
- Cleanwater Foundation
- Confederacy of Treaty 6
- Council of Canadians
- Davey Lake Group
- Dene Nation
- Earth Alternatives
- Edmonton Friends of the North Environmental Society
- Environmental Defence
- Friends of Lily Lake
- Glasswaters Foundation
- Greenpeace Canada
- Indigenous Environmental Network
- International Institute of Concern for Public Health
- Keepers of the Athabasca
- Lac Ste Anne Community Group
- Lochend Under Siege Group
- National Farmers Union
- Nature Alberta
- North Saskatchewan Riverkeepers
- Onoway River Valley Conservation Association
- Peace River Environmental Society
- Pembina Institute
- Powers Group
- Public Interest Alberta
- Regional Environmental Action Committee
- Seniors' Action and Liaison Team
- Sierra Club Prairie Chapter
- South Porcupine Stewardship Association
- Springvale Surface Rights Association
- Strawberry Landowners Group
- Three Creeks Resident’s group
- United Landowners of Alberta
- United Nurses of Alberta
- Uptag Society
- Warburg Pembina Surface Rights Group
- Water Matters
- West Athabasca Watershed Bio Regional Society
- World Wildlife Fund
