Residents say the proposed experimental drilling project south of Fort McMurray is too close to homes and engagement ignored their concerns.
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The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (RMWB) is asking Energy Minister Brian Jean to relocate a proposed experimental drilling site south of Fort McMurray.
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Residents of the hamlet of Saprae Creek, which is closest to the project, worry about the project because the technology is untested and is within 1.2 kilometres of homes. Residents also argue consultation with the company, Okotoks-based Drift Resource Technologies, has been poor and the company has been insensitive to the needs of the community.
“We’re against this project because it is too close to our houses… recreation, quad, horseback riding, hiking and picnics along this area,” said Damian Asher, president of the Saprae Creek Residents’ Society, to council. “Many Indigenous cultures within Fort McMurray use it as their grounds as well.”
Mayor Sandy Bowman said positive feedback claimed by Drift did not match what the RMWB has heard from residents in the area or other stakeholders.
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“When we hear from a company that says they’ve engaged, we’re the ones that will fact check and we did get all the stakeholders and have these meetings,” said Bowman.
“The results from engagement were not recorded accurately, whether it was with the residents or with the stakeholders and communities around there. So I definitely support this 100 per cent and we’ll do whatever we can.”
Drift says the method they are testing can reach oilsands deposits with few greenhouse gas emissions, eliminates the needs for tailings ponds and be reclaimed decades faster than current oilsands operations. The company hopes to demonstrate this technology during a 100-day test period and reclaim the site afterwards.
But residents in Saprae Creek argue the project is too close to homes and they doubt many of Drift’s claims. Fort McMurray 468 First Nation is also filing a separate statement of concern against the project.
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Asher said he was told Drift plans to partner with the federal government and move oil from the nearby CN Rail yard. However, the train yard is not set up to move crude oil. This means the only other alternative is using trucks to move through the community and onto the highway.
There are also concerns the project will be abandoned if Drift fails, especially since the company is small. Councillor Allan Grandison said there are currently thousands of abandoned oil wells that Alberta’s orphaned well program has failed to deal with.
Asher said the Alberta Energy Regulator has offered mediation between the residents and the company. This is unacceptable, he argued, because residents do not want to compromise on their demand the project move elsewhere.
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Councillor Stu Wigle said he was at a recent community engagement with Drift and said “it was 100 per cent of the community against” the project. But Wigle said a company email after the meeting claimed there was a positive response. At that point, Wigle and the community felt Drift was “working in bad faith.”
“There’s many things that they’ve said that they’ve done or they’ve accomplished that they didn’t,” said Wigle.
“We didn’t even want to move forward in any kind of agreement or even move to the next level of even listening to what was there, because every time that we got into a situation, there seemed to be false information.”
Councillor Kendrick Cardinal said he was sympathetic to the concerns of the residents and said any letter to Jean should include feedback from nearby Indigenous communities. Bowman agreed and said he has met with the leadership of Fort McMurray 468 First Nation on the topic.
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A spokesperson for Jean did not return requests for comment. Ryan Cameron, the regulatory and sustainability manager for Drift, argued in a Thursday morning statement the company has followed all rules, regulations and processes to get the necessary approvals and licenses for the project.
Cameron did not address council’s decision or specific criticisms of the project mentioned at council’s meeting.
“In response to the feedback we’ve received, we have proposed several mitigation strategies aimed at addressing the concerns raised by community members,” said Cameron.
“Drift’s project holds the potential for significant investment and economic benefits for both Fort McMurray and the province. At this stage, we believe it is not appropriate to provide further comments, as we are still in the regulatory approval process.”
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vmcdermott@postmedia.com
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