Marie Lake – Resource Development at Any Cost?
Author: anne | Date: April 11, 2007 | Please Comment!Marie Lake is a recreational gem in northeastern Alberta but is rapidly becoming a defining issue for Albertans who care about values beyond the exploitation of oil sands. The contested Marie Lake seismic survey kicks off a five to seven year project. It will eventually include a 500-metre vertical mine shaft, horizontal tunneling, upward sloping heat injection and bitumen flow wells into the oilsands deposit, and a pipeline and steam plant on the land surface near the lake.
Read my questions to the Ministers of Environment and SRD (or listen to the April 10 questions at the end of this post!):
April 2 Questions on Marie Lake
April 10 Questions on Marie Lake
There was also an Edmonton Journal Article on the subject today:
Marie Lake cottage owners say ‘never’ to oilsands seismic survey
Read a letter from a concerned citizen: Letter on Marie Lake
Listen to my April 10 questions:
6:36 am on April 14th, 2007
How many letters like this are we going to habe to write, before the government stops ruining our children’s legacy?
Dear Sarah, Matthew, and Brayden:
It is with a saddened heart that I must tell you, that you will not see the birds on the waters of Marie lake this summer, hear the call of the loon, catch a fish. Unfortunately swimming is out. Why you ask? Well the government in it’s wisdom, has deemed that money from oil sands development is more important, than recreational use, human safety, and the environment. Science tells us of the damage of under water seismic testing, and we cannot risk you swimming in the waters and getting deafened by the underwater noise or worse. We cannot save the fish; they are trapped in the lake with nowhere to run. The beaver, and the loons will dive into the noise, so who knows what will happen. All the other birds even protected ones will fly away, leave feeding grounds and hatching grounds.
Yes I know when you were in the Stollery Hospital we promised we would go out to the lake and enjoy nature, but the government is only concerned with healing bodies. The land and what you can do when you are healed does not matter to the government. Worker safety and obesity matter but not fresh air and an healthy environment to grow up in, NOT IF IT CONFLICTS WITH MAKING MONEY
We are trying to protect your great grandfather’s legacy. He placed his trust in the government of Alberta, when he leased rights to recreational land for 99 years, one would assume the land would be preserved for 99 years. Yes an implied contract with a honourable province he thought. But not so, to this government.
Yes your grandmother, dad and I all played in the lake growing up, AND I HOPE YOU WILL BE ABLE TO. But the need for over paced development to strip our province of non-renewable resources is to great to stop. Yes the government pays lip service to the environment, but when conflict arises, they side with money.
Unfortunately Honourable Mr RENNER does not believe that activities that adversely affect fish, birds, and fish habitat fall under the jurisdiction of the environmental minister, when last week any geophysical activity in fish bearing waters did, when the water for life strategy states, any disturbance to a water body does. But not this week in the house. Did he lie last week? Are the policies only for appearance, you decide? Is the cornerstone of Alberta environmental legislation public consultation? Not from where I stand, it is government greed.
We have tried to save Marie Lake, but the government has turned a death ear to us, they will not volunteer to swim with their families during the seismic testing to prove it is safe, so how can we endanger you? NATO has a greater than 2.5 km no diver/no mammal zone around seismic testing, not so our trusted government.
I am so sorry you cannot enjoy what I did growing up in this once great province of Alberta. Now a province only concerned with making the rich richer, not the citizens that make it home.
Great Uncle Chris
12:17 pm on April 15th, 2007
Dr. Swann: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Energy minister. Unlike federal lands, provincial
lands have no public review before mineral leases are going to auction. How open and
accountable is a government when the public have to learn about such develop-ments only after
the land is already auctioned?
Mr. Knight: Well, Mr. Speaker, that is not exactly the case. The province of Alberta does have a
committee, the Crown Mineral Disposition Review Committee, established in the province of
Alberta in 1974. It has been in place and active since that point in time, and there is a prereview
done of any mineral lease sales before they’re actually posted.
I find this very interesting and possibly the crux of the whole problem of Marie Lake. This prereview should be the public property of the general population of Albertan’s and as such should be delivered to the MLAW’s review committee for their assessment and final comments. The Alberta Government is by default answerable to its constituants and must in good faith and by job description support and protect the province and resources entrusted in them by the people. These minerals do not belong to the Government of Ed Stelmach alone. They are in fact the legacy of the generations of Albertan’s to come and because of this Ed Stelmach and his elected officials are bound by duty to act with the utmost prudence in regards to all our natural resources. This simply means that sustainablity takes precedence over any foreign interests such as OSUM and all other oil companies wanting to reap an immediate benefit from our long term wealth. It is appalling to me to think that the government we have just elected can be bought at such a low price that they would consider the rape of a naturally sustained water system like Marie Lake when we have just endured such severe drought over the past several years. We do not know what the future climate changes will do to Alberta but it is completely reprehensible of any elected government to allow such an atrocity to our precious and limited water reserves.
For the Sustainable Resource Minister to state that all the stringent requirements have been met by OSUM when most research on the impact of seismic testing has been either inconclusive or incomparable to a body of fresh water is incredibly careless.The Minister of Environment seems to be passing the buck in his responses to you Dr. Swann. In light of their lack of interest in ensuring that OSUM is abiding in the best interest of all life involved, I seriously question whether or not we have indeed elected the best government for the job. It will certainly affect my judgement in the upcoming spring election and I intend with every ounce of my energy to alert others to what is happening.
Sincerely
Glenda Murphy
1:07 pm on April 15th, 2007
Hi Dr. Swann,
My mom is writing this for me so I can say thank you for trying your best to get the people in the government to hear how important Marie Lake is to me and my friends. My mom and I have spent most of our summer last year visiting the lake with friends and family. I go swimming in the lake when its still too cold for mom but I love the water so much that I just cannot wait. Mom tells me that this summer I cannot swim there because there will be men working on the lake and their work will probably make it so I will not be able to have any babies when I grow up.
I am worried for the loons though. I can stay out of the water and out of harm but they cannot. Their babies might be in trouble too as they will be too little to fly away from anything that might hurt them.
Last summer we had a very rare flower grow up in front of our cabin. Mom said it was an orcid. All I know is that I could not play near it and that it was very pretty. We put a cage around it to keep it from getting damaged by us or any of the other animals that go through our yard.
Mom said that by protecting the earth we keep it beautiful and healthy for everyone else that has not been born yet. She said that it’s our job to take care of every living thing and that money should never be more important than life. She also told me that we vote so that we can be sure we have men and women control how we take care of things. She said its the way to make certain all good things happen to everyone.
How come the men in the government cannot stop this from happening to our lake? They are making me very afraid.
Signed
Sarah
11:34 am on March 4th, 2008
Just wanted to repeat an invitation to Dr. Swann (and his family), (he was our family doctor years ago in Pincher Creek) to contact/visit us in Waterton Lakes National Park at any time. We heard about the fast via the United Church Observer. We know this morning’s results will be a disappointment to him and to so many who share his ideals, as we do.
With profound respect, and in solidarity
Robert and Carol Watt,
Waterton Lakes National Park
9:43 am on March 6th, 2008
Carol many thanks for your thoughts and invitation.
I hope to see you this summer – it’s time!
David