Alberta's dark age

[coppertop]

I was in Calgary when the Pekisko group made their ride, I know most of the folks involved, and I would suggest that if Ian Tyson had not been one of the riders it would never have gained the attention it did. Work behind the scenes by people like Evan Berger, former Reeve of the MD of Willow Creek and current Parliamentary Secretary to Ted Morton, Minister of SRD, has done as much to raise awareness of the importance of preserving the native rangelands in the Eastern Slopes. I was very pleased to see Evan get the appoinment he did. Grassfarmer, do you honestly think that the majority of those who voted in the March election are a bunch of dunderheads who were foolish enough to elect a corrupt government ?

Disagreeing with government policy is one thing, but to suggest that every move the government makes that one doesn't agree with makes them corrupt is a stretch in my opinion.

I, for one, think that the Premier took necessary steps to clean up the EUB, and also clean up a lot of the mess that Ralph left behind.

As far as EIA's on power lines go, I don't know enough about the issue to have a firm opinion. I do know that our county asks for them on subdivison application for multi parcel development where abandoned leases are present.

[per]

By necessary steps you mean the Utilities and ERCB split, Bil 46, Bill 9 (new bill) or the removal of the EIA on Utility projects, LUF? Some mixed messages there.

[grassfarmer]

I think the Government dealing with the issue involved initially denying any spying took place, then when they were caught in that lie blamed it on the EUB and denied any knowledge of it. When it emerged that the Government did in fact have prior knowledge of the spying they did a sleight of hand reshuffle of the EUB leaving the key players in place. After a public outcry over that some of the head people were replaced - with people from a very similar background. It's clear it is business as usual at the EUB, energy department and environment. Of course we can't have an enquiry into it as too many fingers would be pointing back at the Government.

Contrary to what you may think Coppertop I'm not anti-conservative. I was a Conservative voter in the UK and our family were involved with the party there. This PC government in Alberta scares me though - as would any Government that runs roughshod over their citizens rights and tries to circumvent democracy at every opportunity in favour of lining the pockets of big business. You absolutely cannot have Government run by merchants, there must be a clear separation of Government and business and I do not see that happening in Alberta.

[coppertop]

grassfarmer, I don't know what the answer is with respect to the ERCB. I know there have been major changes within the membership, and I know some of the acting members personally and consider them to be close friends. They are honest, hard working and certainly unbiased individuals, but in a panel of three or five their opinion is only partially responsible for decisions.

Industries in Alberta need a regulator, and if the ERCB and the Utilities Board aren't the answer, then how do we regulate resource development and utilities ?

The spying incident wss an example of someone at the EUB making an extremely foolish decision. It came back to haunt the organization and certainly led to some people making a very early exit.

I am the first to agree with you, that it never should have happened, and hopefully there are mechanisms in place to ensure that nothing like that happens again.

The original discussion was about Greenpeace and the disruptive tactics they use. Whether this sort of disruption occurs at the Premier's Dinner or in a public hearing by a regulator funded by the public it is never appropriate. I have sat in on EUB and NRCB hearings and have seen people who are very much opposed to the subject of the hearing, the chairman of the hearing is in charge of how things progress, and if he or she allows things to go sideways, then it is the perogative of the regulator to move the entire hearing to Calgary where it is under the highest security.
If there was any concern for the security in the AltaLing hearings that is what should have been done vs hiring spies !!!

With respect to EIA's for power lines, I am wondering why groups who are upset over the Minister's decision to do away with them, aren't making their voice known.

In this area power lines are a non issue, but sour wells are, so I guess it depends on how the individual or group is affected by proposed development.

[cakadu]

Coppertop, I would hazard a guess that most people aren't directly affected by the lack of EIA's on anything. How many people in Edmonton and/or Calgary have to worry about a power line coming through their backyard? How many people actually knew about the existence of Bill 46?

We can try to make our voices heard, but if the people who are making these decisions turn a deaf ear, then what do we do?

I am no fan of Greenpeace or any other group like them and believe that you can get something accomplished without the tactics that they employ.

I'm not entirely convinced that running to the power company and screaming "no way" is the best answer either. I'm asking this question because I don't know the answer, but I wonder how things might have turned out if the folks outright opposing the power line would have asked for them to do it in such a way as for it to become the model powerline, taking the environment into consideration. Maybe that's not possible, but did anyone consider it? Let's face it AltaLink has more money and legal power than anyone else and they would have been anticipating folks coming at them with both barrels.

Don't know the answers, just curious as to what others might think.

[per]

Pretty hard to negotiate an environmentally friendly power line route without an environmental impact assessment. This government has shown how it wants to precede with that type of utility. We have 3 miles of 500kva power line and it certainly has an environmental impact in many different ways. As far as where are the people up in arms about these things? There is only so much time in the day, week, month. You can only lobby so much and you burn out. We have to leave time to make a living. These groups you refer to, Coppertop, are made up of volunteers who have busy lives. It would be nice if the regulator or the government didn't need a watchdog but time and time again they prove that they do. As far as the honesty of the board members, of course people of integrity are chosen for the job. They still have to live within the parameters of the regulation and I think that is where the issue is, notwithstanding a few zealous rouges. Splitting the utilities and bringing in Bill 46 didn't instill confidence in me that positive change was here. We had to fight tooth and nail to bring 46 close to something acceptable. Just saying no doesn't work either and to have any credibility we need to present solutions when we have objections.

[grassfarmer]

Sorry Coppertop the original discussion was not about Greenpeace and the disruptive tactics they use - I began this thread by mentioning the FtMcMurray incident and the removal of the need for EIAs and use brought up Greenpeace.
I note in your reply that you are quick to install a distance between the Alberta Government and the EUB which in reality doesn't exist. You say that industries in Alberta need a regulator -I agree and foolishly I used to think that that was the role of EUB, Environment department, energy department etc. Upon closer inspection it is clear that all these bodies have the same mandate as the Alberta Government - maximise resource extraction at any price. It's not even hidden - look at the wording in the water act re fresh water injection - it is not about protection of fresh water it's about "minimising the use of fresh water WHILE LIMITING THE STRANDING OF OIL RESERVES."
However hard you try you cannot remove the blame for some of the things happening in this province from the AB Government - it is their job to govern and they are not doing that responsibly because they are too eager to green light anything the energy sector wants to do. Because et's face it that resource exploitation gives them finances to play with that most Governments could only dream of.

Cakadu, Joe and the Lavesta group stated many times that they realise and accept the need for upgraded power lines so they were not opposed point blank to the development. What they were opposed to was the totally unacceptable means by which AltaLink attempted to do this, breaking every rule in the book aided and abetted by the Alberta Government. The did not meet even the minimum legal requirements necessary in terms of notifying affected landowners but intended to steamroll it through anyway.
As for the horror stories of the impending blackouts in Calgary if the powerline didn't get built right away that was a complete lie. The schematics for the wiring showed that the supply line from Langdon into Calgary was already maxed out and under the AltaLink proposal there were no plans to increase this line capacity. This was a scheme about liquidating the Wabamun coal reserve through a dirty technology power plant and selling the electricity to the US and the company and Government were caught out fair and square.

[wilagro]

grassfarmer: "This was a scheme about liquidating the Wabamun coal reserve through a dirty technology power plant and selling the electricity to the US and the company and Government were caught out fair and square."

You're hitting on all eight on your assessment of the situation. The whole "reform and deregulation" of our power system was to benefit certain groups and the government was complicit all the way.