Reverse job-killing oilpatch monitoring suspensions: Alberta Opposition leader
Posted May 22, 2020 1:38 pm.
Last Updated May 22, 2020 1:50 pm.
EDMONTON — Alberta’s Opposition leader says Premier Jason Kenney should step in to reverse a decision by the province’s energy regulator to suspend environmental monitoring.
Rachel Notley says the decision will cost jobs as international investors shy away from an industry increasingly seen as an environmental outlier.
On Wednesday, the Alberta Energy Regulator expanded previous monitoring suspensions for open-pit oilsands mines to include the entire oilpatch.
Companies no longer have to perform a wide array of monitoring, tests and research on soil, water, air and wildlife.
Most of the suspensions have no end date.
Kenney says the regulator is an independent body and he can’t tell it what to do.
Notley says Kenney has plenty of authority to step in.
At least two of the world’s largest investment funds have cited environmental concerns in decisions to restrict investments in Alberta’s oilpatch.
The Canadian Press
