Mrs. Marianne Cole, President,
Clearwater County Taxpayers’ Association
RR #1,
Rocky Mtn.
House, AB T4T 2A1
June 10, 2019
Mr. Gordon Lambert,
President and CEO
Alberta Energy
Regulator
Suite 1000, 250 – 5th St. SW
Calgary, AB T2P 0R4
Dear Mr. Lambert:
I
am writing this letter on behalf of the Clearwater County Taxpayers’
Association and concerned residents of our area with regards to two
issues:
· The operation and control of the Alberta Energy Regulator AND
· Fracking in the oil industry
1.
Operation of the Alberta Energy Regulator We understand the need
for a regulatory body to oversee the operation of the oil industry in
Alberta but we are very concerned about the make-up of the Board and
Directors of the AER. With significant representation from former
industry personnel we question if there is adequate, unbiased evaluation
of industry operations or is it a matter of “the fox looking after the
chicken coop.” We are concerned, that with the weighted membership of
oil industry personnel, the interests of rural Albertans may not be
adequately considered.
Certainly there is a need for qualified
opinion but we also feel that there is a distinct need for
representation from rural communities, the people that are potentially
seriously affected by oil industry operations in their area and see “the
other side of the story.” These people deserve to have input into
matters affecting their quality of life and we suggest that there be an
open application procedure for representatives on the AER Board with a
required, equal number of representatives from various areas of Alberta.
2. Fracking Again, we understand the benefit of
fracking but we are also very concerned about its potentially negative
impact from possible earthquakes and the significant use of fresh water.
We definitely feel that the AER has to re-evaluate their licensing
protocols and procedures as we feel there is not the degree of
supervision/control necessary to ensure the well-being of all Albertans.
As such we are proposing:
· The development of stringent
protocol and procedures for compensation to residents who may have water
wells or property damage due to fracking and/or earthquakes. The
procedure guidelines must stipulate the responsibilities of the oil
industry company involved with a definite
outline of compensation
to be paid. The guidelines must be easily understood, readily
available, and allow for efficient/sufficient compensation to the
affected parties.
· The AER initiate extensive research
on the alternatives to the use of fresh water for fracking and then work
to enforcing those alternatives. Withdrawing billions of liters of
fresh water from our resources for each fracking operation is not
sustainable. Recently the Mayor of Calgary expressed concern over the
potential inadequate water supply for his city.
Also
there needs to be greater supervision by the AER over the approval of
temporary diversion licensing. We are very concerned that there is not
enough evaluation of the potential impact on the water source before
licenses are approved. With the numerous applications that the AER
receives on a daily basis we question how extensive an evaluation is
done before approval is granted. As mentioned before, the withdrawal of
billions and billions of liters of water from our environment is NOT
sustainable. There are alternatives to fresh water use for fracking but
there IS NOT an alternative to water for sustaining life. We sincerely
encourage the AER to do research into, and then subsequently
promote/require, alternatives to fresh water use.
In
conclusion we reiterate our requests that you address concerns with the
operation of the AER as well as the issues related to fracking. We
trust that you might be equally concerned about the well-being of all
Albertans and our environment, and therefore work towards addressing
these concerns.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Yours truly,
Marianne Cole
Cc: Honorable Sonya Savage, Minister of Energy
Mrs. Sheila O’Brien, Chairman of the Board, Alberta Energy Regulator
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