Seismic Testing Approved for Marie Lake
Author: anne | Date: August 17, 2007 | Please Comment!Despite Liberal efforts in the Legislature and the efforts of community groups in Northern Alberta, last week the SRD Ministry approved seismic testing on pristine Marie Lake. Even Conservative member Denis Ducharme was upset over the approval, along with many Albertans. The decision flies in the face of the recent Oilsands Consultation Final Report indicating that Albertans want their environment to be the priority and to be properly protected. Is the government’s “business as usual” attitude reflecting the will of the people? What do you think?
Denis Ducharme said to CBC reporters “I’m upset that it’s a bad decision by a rookie minister (Ted Morton). There were several questions posed by my constituents to Minister Morton on the possible environmental risk of the seismic activity on Marie Lake”; not to mention the oilsands development underneath which will logically follow.
Read the CBC article and others here:
CBC: MLA Blasts Oil Testing Under Pristine Lake
Edmonton Journal: Marie Lake, everything is for sale in this oil-rich province
Alberta Liberal Caucus: Marie Lake Press Release August 9 2007
Oil Sands Consultations Final report (website): Click Here
10:28 am on September 11th, 2007
I was happy to hear that the seismic testing on Marie Lake has been halted. I grew up camping at Marie Lake with my father who still calls Marie Lake his summer home after almost 19 years. I’ve spent the last 10 years building my career in the oil indusrty and currently deal with offshore projects.
With Peak Oil upon us we must realize that we have to look further offshore and within environmentally sensitive and protected areas for our future energy needs. But with that said can’t we just leave some oil in the ground? People need to make changes in their lives in regards to how we consume energy to ensure debates like this don’t become common place.
The International Energy Agency, the industrialized countries’ energy watchdog, states that the world’s daily oil consumption is 86.1m b/d. If there is a projected 2 billion barrels of oil under Marie Lake and we could take all the oil out in one shot the world could consume that oil in less than 24 days. That’s it! 24 days of oil under Marie Lake at today’s world consumption rates. So by the time the project was/is developed there may be less than 20 days of oil.
I see no reason to use Marie Lake for a long term TESTING project for mining oil sands from beneath our beautiful lakes.