PrintPremier urged to call independent review of pipeline safety
Dear Premier Redford,
The recent series of major pipeline spills in the province has raised serious concerns for all Albertans about the integrity and oversight of the more than 300,000 kilometres of oil and gas pipelines that criss-cross the province. These spills have brought attention to an issue that affects the entire province. Albertans deserve assurances that our pipeline infrastructure is safe, and that appropriate regulations and oversight are in place.
For this reason, we are calling on you to initiate an immediate independent provincewide review of pipeline safety in Alberta, similar to the one which was recently conducted for the Auditor General of Saskatchewan’s 2012 report.
We are encouraged that you have indicated you are “not opposed” to such a review, but we believe that such a critical issue simply cannot wait, as you have indicated, for the conclusion of the ERCB investigation into the recent spills. The average ERCB investigation takes nine months to complete, with some investigations taking years, and broader concerns related to regulation and enforcement are unlikely to be addressed by these investigations. An independent review of regulations and enforcement can and must be conducted in a parallel time frame to any ERCB investigation into individual spills.
Albertans need to know that their families, communities and drinking water are safe from pipeline spills. The time for leadership on pipeline safety is now, and the first step must be an independent pipeline safety review.
Signed,
1. Alberta Landowners Council
2. Alberta Surface Rights Group
3. Alberta Union of Provincial Employees
4. Alberta Wilderness Association
5. Alberta Workers’ Health Centre
6. Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation
7. Big Valley Surface Rights
8. Border Surface Rights
9. Butte Action Committee
10. Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment
11. Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society Northern Alberta Chapter
12. Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society Southern Alberta Chapter
13. Central Athabasca Stewardship Society
14. ChangeAlberta
15. Citizens for Responsible Development
16. Citizens for Responsible Power
17. Cleanwater Foundation
18. Confederacy of Treaty 6
19. Council of Canadians
20. Davey Lake Group
21. Dene Nation
22. Earth Alternatives
23. Edmonton Friends of the North Environmental Society
24. Environmental Defence
25. Friends of Lily Lake
26. Glasswaters Foundation
27. Greenpeace Canada
28. Indigenous Environmental Network
29. International Institute of Concern for Public Health
30. Keepers of the Athabasca
31. Lac Ste Anne Community Group
32. Lochend Under Siege Group
33. National Farmers Union
34. Nature Alberta
35. North Saskatchewan Riverkeepers
36. Onoway River Valley Conservation Association
37. Peace River Environmental Society
38. Pembina Institute
39. Powers Group
40. Public Interest Alberta
41. Regional Environmental Action Committee
42. Seniors' Action and Liaison Team
43. Sierra Club Prairie Chapter
44. South Porcupine Stewardship Association
45. Springvale Surface Rights Association
46. Strawberry Landowners Group
47. Three Creeks Resident’s group
48. United Landowners of Alberta
49. United Nurses of Alberta
50. Uptag Society
51. Warburg Pembina Surface Rights Group
52. Water Matters
53. West Athabasca Watershed Bio Regional Society
54. World Wildlife Fund
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