Alberta's outdated oilsands tenure regime that grants oilsands leases to companies without considering the harmful environmental and social consequences of these massive industrial projects is the subject of the Pembina Institute's latest report.
Released today, Haste Makes Waste: The Need for a New Oilsands Tenure Regime, sheds light on the way the Alberta government grants oilsands leases to companies, and demonstrates how the outdated tenure regime is driving many of the environmental and social problems plaguing the oilsands region today.
The tenure process has resulted in a total of 49,000 square kilometres - an area 70 times larger than the city of Calgary - being leased for oilsands development with no assessment of the environmental and social consequences of these "land sales".
"The way the Alberta government disposes of oilsands leases is a relic of another age," says Simon Dyer, Senior Policy Analyst with the Pembina Institute. "Most Albertans would be shocked to learn that the government grants oilsands leases without a process for considering the environmental and social impacts of these decisions."
The Pembina Institute's report identifies a number of major problems in the existing process including no public engagement, a lack of mechanisms in place to determine if the granting of an oilsands lease is in the public interest, and the lack of a management plan to guide the granting of oilsands leases.
The Stelmach government has stated its commitment to managing growth pressures as one of its five key governing priorities, but it has yet to establish a system for improving the management of oilsands leases.
"The Government of Alberta's failure to establish a management plan for the granting of oilsands leases is the root cause of the worsening environmental and social conditions in the region," says Dyer. "The government needs to update Alberta's oilsands tenure process to ensure that social and environmental values are reflected in the decision to grant oilsands leases," adds Dyer.
The Pembina Institute makes several detailed recommendations on how to improve Alberta's oilsands tenure regime. These include the need for a moratorium in granting new oilsands leases until an overhaul of the tenure process has been completed and the embattled Cumulative Environmental Management Association (CEMA) has delivered its recommendations for the management of the oilsands.
A full copy of Haste Makes Waste: The Need for a New Oilsands Tenure Regime and a fact sheet is available at www.pembina.org/pubs.
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For more information, contact
Simon Dyer
Senior Policy Analyst
The Pembina Institute
Tel: 403-269-3344 ext. 104
Cel: 403-322-3937
Still images and B-roll footage of oilsands operations are available for use by the media at www.pembina.org/oil-sands/photos.
