By Guest Column William Walter Kay——Bio and Archives--August 20, 2010
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"Environmental management has gone through great changes in the last 40 years. We evolved from concentrating on specific spills and releases in our environment to proactively managing facilities and the activities and now we are evolving to concentrate on the environment as a whole."The buzz phrase for this new holistic approach is "cumulative effects management". The Report calls for a "cumulative effects management system in the Industrial Heartland" (north of Edmonton). An Environmental Appeal Board (EAB) reviews AE decisions. A frequent cause of appeals is water licence approvals. AE bureaucrats set Conservation Objectives to ensure "in stream flow needs" are sufficient to protect "ecosystem health". The premise is wilderness rights to water. EAB appeals are also launched pursuant to the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act and Climate Change and Emissions Management Act. EAB hears complaints about reclamation certificates, administrative penalties, enforcement orders, etc., and by emphasizing mediation, makes about 20 decisions a year. EAB's "impartial professionals" include: a director of the Biosphere Institute of Bow Valley (fighters for ecological integrity), a UBC Institute of Resource Ecology Ph.D. graduate currently preaching Enviro-Sci at Lethbridge U, and a Ph.D. Enviro-Scientist formerly with the Canadian Wildlife Service. AE participates in numerous eco-activist joint ventures. Some of the $250,000 AE gave Alberta Stewardship Network in 2009 to set up stewardship groups went to publishing Awareness to Action -- an exposé of 15 enviro-activist triumphs. Buffalo Lake Management Team, founded by AE in 1991 to monitor environmental mitigation, now promotes wind power. AE's "strategic conservations" with land trusts culminated in the November 2006 launch of Alberta Land Trust Alliance (with a $300,000 start-up grant). AE-funded One Simple Act is a crew of "young energetic individuals" who travel Alberta in hybrid cars promoting reusable shopping bags, proper tire pressure, and global warming propaganda. AE's Triple StaRs Challenge teaches the Three Rs (reduce recycle reuse) at elementary schools. AE's largest ENGO project, the Water for Life quango, was set afloat in 2003. The Water for Life Action Plan (2009) sets a goal of addressing "aquaticecosystemdegradation" through increased bio-data collection, expanded public awareness, and cumulative effects management. The culprits responsible for aquatic degradation are economic growth and population growth. Alberta's water supply is ludicrously described as scarce. Watersheds are defined as any area of land catching precipitation and draining it into any body of water. Common nouns for bodies of water, such as lake or river, are displaced by "aquatic ecosystem", which appears up to ten times a page. A companion document, Enabling Partnerships, plots how ENGOs and rural landowners are to be marshalled in the march to sustainability. The two top tenets of Water for Life are spelled out as:
"Albertans must recognize there are limits to the availability of water supply." "Alberta's water must be managed within the physical limitations and supplies available to individual watersheds."Thus Water for Life's primary mission is to prevent Albertans from even thinking about major water transfers. Solutions are narrowed to conservation. Water for Life is an organizational pyramid. Local citizen auxiliaries, Watershed Stewardship Groups (WSGs), guard each aquatic ecosystem. WSGs cooperate with larger ENGOs in recruiting local landowners and aboriginals. WSGs raise awareness through: riparian health assessments, education field days, and habitat research programs. AE assists WSGs with information, grants, and technical support. Unlike many of the WSGs they supervise, Watershed Plan Advisory Committees (WPACs) are registered non-profit societies. WPACs partner with ENGOs with whom they author "State of our Watershed" reports accompanied by draft watershed plans. WPACs lobby governments to endorse these plans and also undertake public education operations. There are 9 functioning WPACs and more under construction. AE funds and assigns staff to WPACs but WPACs determine their own strategies and relationships. WPACs deploy consensus decision-making. At the pyramid's apex sits Alberta Water Council (AWC), chaired by an AE Assistant Deputy Minister. AE appoints all 24 AWC board members including one rep from each of the oil, irrigation, cattle, forestry and mining industries. AWC board also has reps from Ducks Unlimited Canada, Fish Habitat Conservation Collective, Alberta Lake Management Society, Alberta Wilderness Association, Sierra Club Canada, WPAC Collective and Environment Law Centre. Decisions are made by consensus. AWC's recent Strengthening Partnerships renews the commitment to consensus and criticizes unnamed members (industry) for lobbying the government directly. Strengthening Partnerships calls for "shared governance" of water policy between the Water for Life conglomerate and the government. A tempest erupted in April 2010 after a draft government oilsands paper disregarded the "no net loss of wetlands" policy. A furious Sierra Club spokesperson complained Water for Life advisories were being ignored. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers countered they could accept restoring wetlands of exceptional value but that "no net loss" was prohibitively expensive. (2) Water for Life's "shared governance" agenda is trickling through the government. In April 2010 Auditor General Merwan Saher acknowledged public frustration over the fact that water license applications were taking an unconscionable several years to process. His solution: the government share more responsibility with Ducks Unlimited. (3) In May 2010 the province announced new building codes to promote using rainwater to flush toilets. The new codes accommodate Water for Life's demand that water use be made 30% more efficient. (4) The Ministry of Sustainable Resources Development (MSRD) employs 2,000 people over 5 departments and several agencies. MSRD fights forest fires, oversees forest harvesting and manages public lands. MSDR collects $150 to $200 ml a year in timber royalties, grazing dispositions and hunting/angling licence sales. Annual expenditures are around $400 ml. (5) In 2008 MSDR launched "My Wild Alberta" -- a new process for issuing hunting and angling licences. 238,000 licence applications were received in 2009. Deeming hunting and fishing to be wildlife management tools MSRD delegates some of its responsibilities, with funds, to Alberta Conservation Association, Forest Resources Improvement Association and Professional Outfitter's Society. MSRD spends $30 ml a year enforcing wildlife regulations. MSRD thwarts development of forage lands ostensibly on behalf of livestock graziers but MSRD also restricts their access to forage to feed wildlife. Their Rangeland Management Branch's mission to "sustain and conserve healthy rangeland ecosystems that maintain diversity" manifests in parsimonious allocations of grazing dispositions. In 2008-9 6,000 grazing dispositions were issued equalling 1.7 ml animal unit months. Alberta is home to several million head of cattle. Rangeland Management Branch partners with ENGOs like Cows & Fish. Alberta's forest industry is a $7 billion a year affair employing 38,000. MSRD's Environmental Protection and Enhancement Fund, financed by timber royalties, is mainly concerned with fighting forest fires but also supports "forest health initiatives" such as feeding and fencing wildlife. Last year $55 ml went to fighting the Mountain Pine Beetle; bringing total expenditures of fighting the infestation to $270 ml. MSRD partners with Tree Canada to replace trees on private and municipal land destroyed by the Mountain Pine Beetle. Another MSRD green initiative gave 15 grants totalling $50 ml to forest companies to create bio-energy from wood waste. The federal government subsidizes this program. MSRD bureaucrats complain bio-diversity is "largelyunappreciated and misunderstood." MSRD was among 8 ministries signing the 2008 Biodiversity Action Plan. MSDR gives Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute over $4 ml a year. MSRD implements species-at-risk recovery programs. This endeavour deploys recovery teams for each of the following: Burrowing Owl, Grizzly Bear, Northern Leopard Frog, Ord's Kangaroo Rat, Peregrine Falcon, Piping Plover, Sage Grouse, Shortjaw Cisco, Soapweed, Yucca Moth, Swift Fox, Trumpeter Swan, Western Blue Flag, Woodland Caribou, Western Slivery Minnow, Stonecat, St Mary Sculpin, and Western Spiderwort. MSRD also eradicates invasive species. MSRD's Endangered Species Conservation Committee (ESCC) has reps from the cattle, oil, and forest industries but is dominated by reps from Alberta Conservation Association, Alberta Fish and Game Association, Alberta Native Plant Council, Federation of Alberta Naturalists et al. MSRD's official line is "grizzlies must remain a vital part of Alberta's heritage and landscape." ESCC has publically called for designating the grizzly as "threatened" since 2002. Such a designation has profound implications for resource extraction, ranching and hunting. To resolve disputes over the size of the grizzly population MSDR contracted Foothills Research Institute to do a DNA study of the bears. They concluded there were 691 grizzlies in Alberta; 375 of breeding age. Shortly thereafter (June 2010) MSRD Minister Mel Knight declared the grizzly "threatened." Part of his reckoning was "scientists would like a breeding population of about 1,000." (One MSRD official is on record as believing Alberta's grizzly population is increasing.) (6) Another instance of "shared governance" is MSRD's Land Use Framework (LUF). Launched in 2008 LUF envisions seven regions and seven strategies. Regions correspond to river basins. Strategies are the same for each region: (a) create regional land use plans (b) create regional councils (c) deploy cumulative effects management (d) promote conservation and stewardship (e) reduce Albertan's environmental footprint (f) establish monitoring systems and (g) increase Aboriginal/Métis involvement. A Land Use Secretariat is providing leadership to embryonic regional advisory councils. The Secretariat helped pass a Land Stewardship Act (2009) loaded with environmental objectives and references to "sustainable development." MSRD's handling of the Cougar Rock resort illustrates a government at cross purposes with itself. Investors from Hinton and Yellowhead County, taking the government at its word about diversification and tourism, planned a resort (Cougar Rock) complete with hotels, casino, spa, golf course and time-share condos. MSRD bureaucrats told them outright they intended to be "anal" about access to public land. By insisting infrastructure be built in advance of any land grant, and by demanding ever more onerous reclamation plans, MSRD bureaucrats killed Cougar Rock. Locals are out $5 ml. (7) 82,000 square kilometres, 12% of Alberta, is park. (This does not include urban parks or private conservancies.) The 5 National Parks and 4 National Wildlife Areas managed by Parks Canada account for two thirds of this parkland. The other third consists of 530 provincial parks and protected areas managed by the Ministry of Tourism, Parks and Recreation (MTPR). (8) In these straightened times MTPR divides $176 ml over 5 departments (Parks, Travel Alberta, Recreation, Tourism and Support Services). This is down from 2008-9 when MTRP lavished $126 ml on Parks alone to preserve "natural landscapes and features, ecosystems and ecological processes, biological diversity and related cultural attributes." A single $54 million grant went to the Capital Region River Valley Park. The banner years were 2000-2001 when 81 parks and protected areas spanning 20,000 sq km were designated. To inventory Ecologically Sensitive Areas MTPR employs enviro-profs to "enhance the scientific knowledge that would support the preservation of Alberta's natural heritage." MTPR funds the Natural Heritage Information Centre ("Alberta's biodiversity data base") and coordinates provincial involvement with the Canadian Heritage River Program. MTPR's Volunteer Steward Program dispatches stewards to protected areas to install bird houses, repair fences and distribute interpretive brochures. Stewards are supplied with identification badges and stacks of the Partners in Preservation newsletter. Among the 9 Acts administered by MTPR are Provincial Parks Act and Wilderness Areas, Ecological Reserves, Natural Areas, and Heritage Rangeland Act. These Acts (plus Willmore Wilderness Act) create 8 classes of protected land. "Ecological Reserves" are so fragile they are best set aside for conservation biologists. The reserves have few roads and no more will be built. They are open to the public only for low impact activities like photography. 15 Ecological Reserves cover 260 sq km. More restricted are 3 "Wilderness Areas." They are accessible only by foot. Horses are prohibited. Hunting is prohibited. The destruction of any plant is prohibited. Wilderness Areas cover 1,010 sq km. 32 "Wildland Parks" cover 17,000 sq km. Camping and backpacking are permitted. Some have trails for off-road vehicles and snowmobiles, albeit strictly policed. A similar regime governs the 850 sq km Willmore Wilderness Park. 75 "Provincial Parks" cover 2,190 sq km. They have roads and facilities and allow a range of activities. 229 "Recreational Areas" cover 850 sq km, usually around lakes. Their purpose is to localize outdoor recreation hence lessen exploration of surrounding lands. "Natural Areas" are similar to Recreational Areas but have fewer facilities, usually only a parking lot and foot trail. 143 Natural Areas cover 1,300 sq km. "Heritage Rangelands" are restricted to traditional grazing. Limited recreation is allowed with leaseholder consent. There are two Heritage Rangelands: Black Creek Ranch (40 sq km) and OH Ranch (80 sq km). Six ranches have applied for Heritage Rangeland status. OH Ranch, an hour's drive south of Calgary, achieved its status in 2009. Also in 2009 MTRP roped off the Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park to protect the "spectacular" real estate on the northern shore of the Bow River near Calgary. In the same year MTPR kicked-off Travel Alberta Corp to "contribute to Alberta's success as a heritage-based national and international tourist destination." Part of Travel Alberta's mission is to convince Albertans of the great economic significance of nature tourism. They guesstimate tourism's gross value at $5.8 bl a year then link this inflated figure to the idea that "one of our greatest attractions is our tremendous range of natural spaces." Actual tourism receipts are a fraction of this amount and are overwhelmingly collected in cities. In 2010 MTPR proposed legislation to implement their 10 Year Plan for protected areas. The Plan, drafted in collaboration with Aboriginals and ENGOs, claims to balance conservation with recreation. Also in 2010 MTPR closed 239 campsites and converted many others to ‘day use only.' These changes were rationalized by conceding that few people ever go to these places. Some lands protected after 1995 carried existing commitments to oil and gas reserves. Alberta honours pre-existing commitments except in Ecological Reserves, Wilderness Areas and Willmore Wilderness Park where no working of minerals is permitted. A September 10, 2003 Information Letter headed "Honouring Existing Mineral Commitments" and signed by multiple Deputy Ministers states: "As the mineral resources associated with existing commitments inside protected areas is developed and depleted over time, it is expected that protected areas will eventually contain no mineral commitments." The letter makes clear that no new drilling or mining will be allowed in any park or protected area and that all existing operations therein must be wound down with special care. (9) Several "Boards" have become arenas for environmental movement agitation. The Natural Resources Conservation Board (NRCB) is quasi-judicial agency founded in 1991 to regulate non-energy resource projects (forestry, recreation, mining and water). Appointments to NRCB are made by Cabinet on MSRD recommendation. NRCB's 43 employees hold hearings; make decisions, then issue approvals and compliance orders etc. NCRB has completed 14 major reviews of proposed resource projects. They are currently reviewing a proposed sulphur plant being tied up by ENGOs in Lamont County. NRCB is officially committed to sustainable development. Livestock operators wishing to build a confined feedlot operation (CFO) must apply to NRCB for a permit. NRCB considers the environmental, economic and land use propriety of each request to ensure the industry grows in an "environmentally responsible manner." NRCB entertains hundreds of complaints each year about CFOs. A recurring phobia is that CFO manure contaminates aquifers but there little basis for this belief. 287 CFOs installed leak detection equipment due to such fears. (10) MSRD's Surface Rights Board (SRB) received 898 complaints in 2008-9. Because a record 403 went to the hearing stage SRB hired 6 more staff to develop a non-hearing dispute resolution system. The surge in hearings arose from rural landowners demanding more money from oil and gas companies for access to their land. (The provincial government owns 80% of Alberta's minerals including those under private property.) SRB's current Vice Chair was for 30 years an ENGO consultant. (11) Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) regulates natural gas and electrical markets and determines the siting of transmission lines, power plants and gas pipelines. AUC's siting hearings have been politicized by enviro-activists. Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) is the quasi-judicial agency regulating the oil, gas and coal industries. Because ERCB approval is required at every step of an energy project's life ECRB receives thousands of applications, and holds scores of public hearings, every year. ERCB courted controversy in April 2010 by approving two previously rejected Syncrude tailings pond plans. Since 2009, due to ENGO pressure, ERCB is supposed to accept only tailing pond plans that envision converting the pond to solid ground within five years of the mine's closure. Pembina Institute claims 7 of 9 existing tailing ponds do not meet the new standards. Pembina demanded ECRB reject Syncrude's plans. (Tailings ponds are a cause celebre for environmentalists and their media allies who invariably exaggerate pond size and toxicity. Total pond area is about 150 sq k. The main "toxic" content in ponds is clay.) ERCB also drew criticism from ENGOs and the media in June 2010 for approving a gas project on the eastern slopes of the southern Rockies. This decision came after a three year struggle with environmentalists, climaxing in three months of public hearings. (12) The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development preserves uneconomic farms and towns in order to protect the "many Albertans (who) have not shared in growth." This constituency is threatened by farm consolidation, agricultural industrialization and urbanization. This billion-dollar-a-year preservation effort has conjured dozens of programs with green rationales. (13) Rural Alberta Development Fund was endowed with $100 ml in 2005 and has since spent $68.7 ml on 60 projects. Its priorities are: environmental stewardship, Aboriginal support and capacity building. Carbon Reduction Offset Project (CROP) pays farmers not to till their lands in order to trap CO2 in the soil. 36,500 offset credits were purchased by CROP in 2007 (1 credit = 1 tonne of CO2 = $15). In 2008 submissions for 2.75 million credits were received. To government environmentalists CROP is win-win: "hundreds of farmers in Alberta have played a crucial role in improving the environment by changing their farming practises while at the same time benefitting financially." Wildlife Damage Compensation pays farmers for crops eaten by ungulates and waterfowl. The program allows payments of up to $5,000 per inspection. This is not an insurance plan. The farmer pays no premium. Another program compensates ranchers for livestock eaten by wolves. MSRD pays farmers to allow hunting on their land. Much effort goes into persuading farmers not to clear clumps of trees from their land. Programs seek to re-educate farmers into viewing uncleared bush not as lost revenue but as valuable "woodlot" assets. Started in 2008, Webberville Community Forest now covers 45,000 acres -- 60% on private land. This "capacity building" project plants trees, builds trails and instils ecological ideals. Ducks Unlimited Canada et al are involved. Alberta Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture (ASEA) entices farmers into adopting green practises. ASEA's Rural Extension Staff work across Alberta inside ENGOs and municipal governance bodies with job titles like: Research Coordinator of the Central Peace Conservation Society; Watershed Coordinator of Grande Prairie; and Forage Technician for the Grey Wooded Forage Association. Other common job descriptions are: conservation technician, conservation coordinator and conservation specialist. MULTISAR is a province-funded "multiple species management project" in the Milk River area. MULTISAR helps landowners conserve species at risk. Landowners are encouraged to work with Alberta Conservation Association (ACA). MULTISAR's contact person is an ACA wildlife technician. Similar programs include: Alberta Riparian Habitat Management Program, Operation Grassland Habitat, Landowner Recognition Habitat Program, Parkland Stewardship Program and Partners in Habitat Development. These programs all date to the late 1980s, all keep farmland out of production, and all are joint ventures with ENGOs. Agriculture Operation Practices Act (2002) is aimed at confining confined feedlot operations. The Act does not apply to grazing operations. Land extensive agricultural practises are given free range. Land intensive practices are penned in. A provincial plan, announced in 2006, provides infrastructure grants to the biofuel (ethanol) industry. This climate change effort is also co-defined as "rural community development." This perverse, federally assisted, program sees to it that a substantial amount of Alberta's food harvest is purchased pursuant to government diktat then burned as fuel. The exact quantum of cash moving from the provincial treasury to ENGOs is incalculable. Buried within the Treasury Board's 416 page "Blue Book" (March 31, 2009) are the following grants:
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Items of notes and interest from the web.