A few critical additions, including mandatory public consultation and binding limits on cumulative impacts, are needed if proposed new provincial land-use planning legislation is to better manage development and its impacts on Alberta's landscapes and communities.

Media Contact: Steve Kennett, Water Matters

Topic Area: Oil Sands

Reductions in GHG "intensity" do not deliver reductions in actual emissions if industrial production continues to increase, as is the case in the oil sands sector. In its 2008 climate change plan, the government acknowledged that it expects Alberta's total GHG pollution to continue to increase until 2020.

Media Contact: Dan Woynillowicz

Topic Area: Oil Sands

Matthew Bramley, Director of Pembina's climate change program, made the following statement in response to today's announcement of a Canada-U.S. dialogue on energy technology: "Given the level of ambition President Obama has already shown in tackling global warming, it's disappointing that the only thing Stephen Harper committed to today is holding talks on technology research and pilot projects..."

Media Contact: Marlo Raynolds, Matthew Bramley

Topic Area: Oil Sands

The Pembina Institute submitted comments on a draft Alberta Government policy that would allow in situ oil sands operations to burn dirtier fuels, which would significantly increase the intensity and total amount of greenhouse gas pollution and air emissions from the sector.

Media Contact: Simon Dyer, Chris Severson-Baker

Topic Area: Oil Sands

With available fresh water resources expected to decrease as a result of climate change, Alberta faces the challenge of meeting its growing demand for water in a sustainable manner, according to a new report by the Pembina Institute.

Media Contact: Mary Griffiths

Topic Area: Oil Sands

The Energy Resources and Conservation Board released a new directive today that could help reduce the future creation of toxic tailings waste from oil sands mining. Since 1967, oil sands mining operators have been allowed to manage tailings on a voluntary basis with little government enforcement. The new directive will, for the first time, require operators to submit annual plans, including schedules, for reducing toxic fluid tailings waste.

Media Contact: Simon Dyer, Jennifer Grant

Topic Area: Oil Sands

The Government of Alberta has repeatedly failed to respond to questions regarding its ability to effectively monitor and enforce water withdrawal restrictions for oil sands companies, noted a number of Alberta environmental groups.

Media Contact: Simon Dyer, Keepers of the Athabasca, Sierra Club of Canada, Water Matters

Topic Area: Oil Sands

In response to today’s release of the new Alberta Land-Use Framework (LUF), the Pembina Institute and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) Northern Alberta have provided the Government of Alberta with a checklist for its successful implementation.

Media Contact: Richard Schneider (CPAWS), Steve Kennett

Topic Area: Oil Sands

The extraction and refining of bitumen from Canada’s oil sands is taking a significant toll on migratory birds throughout North America. Danger in the Nursery: Impact on Birds of Tar Sands Oil Development in Canada’s Boreal Forest outlines the current and projected effects of the oil sands industry on migratory bird populations in Alberta’s boreal forest and along the Western Hemisphere’s flyways.

Media Contact: Boreal Songbird Initiative, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Simon Dyer

Topic Area: Oil Sands

Alberta’s new Land-Use Framework could become one of the government’s most important policy and legislative initiatives in several decades, but its success is not guaranteed. A new report released today by the Pembina Institute and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) Northern Alberta provides the Government of Alberta with a proposed implementation roadmap for the LUF.

Media Contact: Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), Simon Dyer

Topic Area: Oil Sands

A last-minute withdrawal by the oil sands industry from a negotiated agreement on wetlands has prompted calls from environmental groups that the Government of Alberta not give in to oil industry pressure, but rather deliver on overdue rules to protect and conserve wetlands across Alberta.

Media Contact: Simon Dyer

Topic Area: Oil Sands