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Alberta dilutes wetland defence
News Articles | Calgary Herald | Kelly Cryderman | October 30, 2010
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Alberta conservation groups say the government has caved to industry complaints about a proposed provincewide wetlands protection policy, and are decrying a shift toward a new “flexible” approach.
The province has seen many years of debate over whether Alberta should implement an overarching no-net-loss policy where oil and gas, forestry and construction companies, along with municipalities, are forced to replace or compensate any wetlands they damage or destroy.
On Friday, Alberta Environment Minister Rob Renner made it clear that policy is not going ahead.
“Not all wetlands are alike,” Renner said. “A one-size-fits-all policy isn’t going to work.”
The no-net-loss system would have seen destroyed wetlands replaced at a ratio of at least 1-1 — and perhaps as high as 3-1, where three hectares of equivalent wetland must be restored for each hectare of natural wetland affected or lost.
Instead, the province is now headed toward a system where wetlands are rated for their importance (based on factors such as location or biodiversity) and then creative penalties or exchanges can be made. It still may be that a company creates a new wetland, but it won’t happen in every case.
In some instances, a university might receive a major grant to conduct wetlands research, or an existing wetland may be improved.
In a week when more dead ducks were found in oilsands tailings ponds in northern Alberta, environmentalists say this complicated system further challenges the credibility of the Conservative government on environmental issues.
“There’s a real opportunity here for the government to think twice,” said Joe Obad of the conservation group Water Matters. “This road they’re heading down is pretty foggy.”
Details have yet to be worked out, but Renner said new regulations could be in place by late 2011 or 2012. The minister said the first option is always to avoid harming Alberta’s wetlands — which regulate water flows, purify water supplies and are important habitats for a variety of wildlife — in the first place.
Renner said the new policy was developed to encourage wetlands conservation, but also to “serve the needs of all of the players.”
Dissenting voices were heard in 2008, when the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and the Alberta Chamber of Resources spoke out against the no-net-loss policy, saying the costs associated could stretch into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
On Friday, petroleum producers president David Collyer said the new policy is just a better approach.
“I certainly don’t accept the view that the government has adopted industry’s recommendations,” Collyer said, noting there are still industry concerns about details of the wetlands policy.
Collyer said it’s important the province move forward with a policy that balances conservation of wetlands with allowing “economic development to proceed — which is of great benefit to the citizens of this province.”
He said it’s unclear where the new policy will cost industry less.
However, Carolyn Campbell of the Alberta Wilderness Association said the new policy is a concerning shift.
“I think it will open up a constant debate for every project about what the value of a certain wetland is,” Campbell said, noting developers will try to downplay the value of the wetland.
Pat Kehoe, manager of Alberta operations for Ducks Unlimited Canada, hopes the new policy will lead to concrete results.
However, he worries that research studies, important as they may be, will reign instead of wetlands actually being preserved.
Some industry groups are relieved that Alberta Environment is moving forward with some policy, as they were looking for regulatory certainty going forward.
Nicole Martel, executive director of the Urban Development Institute Alberta — which represents the real estate development and building industry — said even though details are still needed, her group views the policy as tough but fair.
“It could be very costly for us at the end of the day,” Martel said. However, “we’re cautiously, cautiously, cautiously optimistic.”
Renner, the minister, said even if there are critics of the new policy, Alberta has to move beyond the unco-ordinated current approach to preserving wetlands.
“No one thinks the status quo is the appropriate way.” Renner said.
Tagged with: alberta, environmental conservation
