| Residential property taxes will increase by 3.5 per cent and Calgarians will also see a rise in some user fees and utility prices if city council approves the proposed budget released this week. Council will vote on the budget in early February.
City transit users have already experienced an increase in some transit fares that were specified under the proposed budget. Monthly adult passes have gone up $5 to $70. Single youth fares are now $1.40 and a monthly youth pass has gone up $7 and is now $47.
The city is also proposing to increase arena ice rentals, swimming pool passes and admissions and golf course fees. Water fees would go up by 4.8 per cent and waste water fees would go up by 5.9 per. Landfill disposal fees would go up by $4 a month.
The proposed budget includes funds for 44,500 additional hours of transit service, increased parks maintenance, 37 more police staff, 46 more fire department staff and 15 more bylaw enforcement staff as well as city-wide library system improvements.
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The Alberta Energy and Utility Board (EUB) public hearing into Compton Petroleum’s controversial application to drill six sour gas wells 1.1 kilometres outside Calgary’s southeast city limits began this week.
Compton Petroleum president Ernest Sapieha told the public hearing his company has a "proven ability to drill wells safely." He says Compton has drilled numerous sour gas wells in southern Alberta, and two sour gas wells already exist in the area where the company wants to drill six more wells.
Sapieha says his company wants to drill the six sour gas wells to accelerate depletion of its natural gas reserves in the area. Otherwise, he says, the two existing sour gas wells just outside the city could be in production for the next 50 years.
Sapieha says it’s essential for his company to deplete its natural gas reserves as soon as possible due to accelerated urban growth.
However, there numerous intervenors at the hearing are protesting the application due to concerns about public safety. The various groups, including the Calgary Health Region and the Front Line Residents Group, which represents various southeast communities, will make presentations later in the hearing after Compton has presented its case.
Compton’s application is controversial because of the number of wells the company wants to drill and the high concentration of hydrogen sulphide each well could contain (up to 36 per cent). Hydrogen sulphide is lethal if people are exposed to high enough concentrations. There is also concern about Compton’s request for a reduced emergency response zone. The EUB has specified that the company should have a 11.94 kilometre emergency planning zone while the wells are drilled and a 14.97 kilometre emergency planning zone during completion of the wells. A 15-kilometre emergency planning zone would encompass a population of 250,000 people in 40 different communities. Compton has requested that the emergency planning zone be reduced to 4 kilometres for all phases of the wells’ lives.
Sapieha told the public hearing that a 15-kilometre planning zone would be "impractical" and therefore "irresponsible."
The public hearing is expected to last at least a month. Transcripts of each day’s testimony are available on the EUB’s website at www.tscript.com. |
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