Prairie Acid Rain Coalition

Alberta Environment & Sustainable Resource Development has finalized and released the Capital Region Fine Particulate Matter Reponse—a plan to reduce and maintain ambient concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) at all stations in the Capital Region below numerical Canada-wide Standard. In addition to the full report, an overview of the response is available for download at the Capital Region Cumulative Effects Management page on the AESRD website. Read More

by Martha Kostuch

Of course we want continued prosperity. Of course we want safe, affordable housing, good health care and accessible education. But the foundation of our well-being is really a healthy environment – clean air, clean water, healthy food, among other things. I can’t help but wonder how much attention our leaders are paying to the foundation these days.

The centerpiece of my vision for Alberta is a stable, resilient, healthy economy based on energies of the future, not energies of the past. This means ending our addiction to fossil fuels and using some of the revenues they generate to develop and implement alternative energy sources and to support energy conservation. We can do this, but not without strong leadership and a willingness to reflect on whether our current path is taking us where we want to go. Read More

While Alberta Premier goes to Washington, the Kearl Tar Sands Project is going to court

January 14, 2008

EDMONTON - While Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach is in Washington this week seeking to assure Americans that there are no environmental problems associated with dirty tar sands development, Canadian environmental organizations are going to court tomorrow to challenge a massive tar sands operation north of Fort McMurray, Alberta. Imperial Oil's proposed Kearl Tar Sands project includes an open-pit mine that would strip 200 square kilometres of Boreal Forest and contribute to the devastation of the region's landscape and wildlife.

Ecojustice lawyer Sean Nixon will be in court on behalf of the Pembina Institute, Sierra Club of Canada, the Toxics Watch Society of Alberta and the Prairie Acid Rain Coalition, arguing that the environmental assessment of the open-pit mine project was flawed and that the project should be halted until a proper assessment has been completed. Read More

Prairie Acid Rain Coalition
Media Release

July 26, 2007

Yesterday, the Government of Alberta released the Report and Recommendations of the Multistakeholder Committee (MSC) and Panel.

The MSC reached consensus on 96 recommendations. Some examples of the consensus recommendations to achieve the vision of "Ensures a Healthy Environment" are:

• Create and implement comprehensive regional resource and environmental planning and management systems for the Oil Sands Area and for regions impacted by existing and proposed upgraders.
• Work with neighboring jurisdictions and the federal government to ensure cumulative assessment and management of transboundary issues.
• Require comprehensive reclamation and mitigation plans from the onset of development that include milestones. Establish penalties to be enforced if operators fail to meet identified milestones.

"It is my expectation that the government will implement all of the consensus recommendations as quickly as possible," said Martha Kostuch, Chair of the Prairie Acid Rain Coalition and a member of the MSC. Read More