Worried that a proposed Petro-Canada pipeline through pristine wilderness in Kananaskis Country will cause irreparable damage, Alberta ranchers are calling for a moratorium on oil and gas development on the Southeastern Slopes of the Rockies.
And they have the support of a majority of Albertans. According to a Leger Marketing province-wide survey, 74 per cent of respondents agreed that the government should “put a moratorium on any further oil and gas development until the provincial government has finalized a land use framework to plan and balance future development for this sensitive region.”
Petro-Canada is applying to drill 11 sour gas wells and build 56 kilometres of pipeline, crossing 72 water courses in the Willow Creek and Pekisko Creek drainage areas of Kananaskis Country.
According to a news release from the Pekisko Group, an association of about 30 families who see themselves as stewards of the land in the area, this is a key watershed for the driest regions of Southern Alberta, Saskatchewan and Montana, and one of the few remaining undisturbed areas of the Southeastern Slopes.
Because the area proposed for the pipeline is currently inaccessible by vehicle, ranchers are concerned that the roads and the access ways that will have to be built will lead to increased ATV use, resulting in damage to the watershed.
“The potential impact of this pipeline goes far beyond the miles of trenches. Everywhere a pipeline has been built, it’s been followed by weeds, motorbikes, ATVs, trespass, clearcuts, more wells, more roads, and more industrialization,” said Mac Blades, president of the Pekisko Group, in the release.
“Long experience has shown us that you can’t bring back our water, wildlife, wildlands or the native grasses after they’ve been torn up and fragmented.”
In 1977, the Lougheed government passed a Policy for Resource Management of the Eastern Slopes, and the region has been recognized for its importance as the functional water tower for southern Alberta.
Experts have said that development of the Petro-Canada pipeline will damage watersheds and creeks which are home to Alberta’s provincial fish, the Bull Trout, recognized as a ’species at risk' by the Alberta Ministry of Sustainable Resources and Development.
“Our traditional way of life and the cultural fabric of this country depend on maintaining and conserving this watershed to protect our vast open spaces and working landscapes. Our rural families and communities are rooted in and dependent on these landscapes,” said Blades, whose family has ranched the foothills for more than a century.
“For an outside corporation to dismiss those values for short-term windfall profits is not only disrespectful, but undermines all that hard-working people have invested in for generations.”
The hearing for Petro-Canada’s application will begin on November 12 in High River.
And they have the support of a majority of Albertans. According to a Leger Marketing province-wide survey, 74 per cent of respondents agreed that the government should “put a moratorium on any further oil and gas development until the provincial government has finalized a land use framework to plan and balance future development for this sensitive region.”
Petro-Canada is applying to drill 11 sour gas wells and build 56 kilometres of pipeline, crossing 72 water courses in the Willow Creek and Pekisko Creek drainage areas of Kananaskis Country.
According to a news release from the Pekisko Group, an association of about 30 families who see themselves as stewards of the land in the area, this is a key watershed for the driest regions of Southern Alberta, Saskatchewan and Montana, and one of the few remaining undisturbed areas of the Southeastern Slopes.
Because the area proposed for the pipeline is currently inaccessible by vehicle, ranchers are concerned that the roads and the access ways that will have to be built will lead to increased ATV use, resulting in damage to the watershed.
“The potential impact of this pipeline goes far beyond the miles of trenches. Everywhere a pipeline has been built, it’s been followed by weeds, motorbikes, ATVs, trespass, clearcuts, more wells, more roads, and more industrialization,” said Mac Blades, president of the Pekisko Group, in the release.
“Long experience has shown us that you can’t bring back our water, wildlife, wildlands or the native grasses after they’ve been torn up and fragmented.”
In 1977, the Lougheed government passed a Policy for Resource Management of the Eastern Slopes, and the region has been recognized for its importance as the functional water tower for southern Alberta.
Experts have said that development of the Petro-Canada pipeline will damage watersheds and creeks which are home to Alberta’s provincial fish, the Bull Trout, recognized as a ’species at risk' by the Alberta Ministry of Sustainable Resources and Development.
“Our traditional way of life and the cultural fabric of this country depend on maintaining and conserving this watershed to protect our vast open spaces and working landscapes. Our rural families and communities are rooted in and dependent on these landscapes,” said Blades, whose family has ranched the foothills for more than a century.
“For an outside corporation to dismiss those values for short-term windfall profits is not only disrespectful, but undermines all that hard-working people have invested in for generations.”
The hearing for Petro-Canada’s application will begin on November 12 in High River.
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