| EnCana, Canada’s largest oil and gas company, is being investigated by Environment Canada for a violation of the Canadian Wildlife Act for building 256 metres of pipeline in the Suffield National Wildlife Area (SNWA) without a permit. EnCana is also being investigated by Environment Canada for violating the Species At Risk Act by disturbing an endangered plant, sand verbena, during the drilling of a new well and the creation of a new access trail to the well in Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Suffield.
These are just two of the most damning pieces of information the Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA) received in an access to information request on EnCana’s activities within CFB Suffield. The AWA says the documents demonstrate EnCana can’t be trusted to preserve this rare native prairie landscape.
EnCana has applied to drill 1,275 wells in the SNWA. The SNWA, which preserves 458 square kilometres of prairie, is part of CFB Suffield. SNWA is home to 14 federally listed endangered species and 78 provincially listed "at risk" or "sensitive" species. Several environmental groups, including the Alberta Wilderness Association, the Federation of Alberta Naturalists, Nature Canada and Grasslands Naturalists are opposed to new oil and gas development fearing new wells will endanger species-at-risk and damage the landscape. The SNWA is overseen by the Department of National Defence (DND).
"The whole area (of CFB Suffield), and EnCana knows this, is an area of international significance, whether it’s inside the SNWA or not," says Cliff Wallis, an environmental consultant and past president of the AWA. "It’s basically like the wild west. These guys are totally out of control there, and there’s no accountability.
"It is a pattern of behaviour. I certainly wouldn’t trust them with my environmentally significant area and I don’t know that Canadians trust them with it either. That’s why we’re saying ‘stay the hell out.’"
In a January 17, 2006 environmental audit done by DND of EnCana’s "minimal disturbance" drilling techniques in an area of CFB Suffield called Koomati, a biologist found that EnCana hadn’t followed two guidelines created by the Alberta Energy and Utilties Board (AEUB). In one case, the biologist observed "extreme" cases of vehicle rutting on the ground "indicating that development was occurring during wet and unfrozen ground conditions," which is contrary to an AEUB guideline that expects companies to develop wells and access the well sites in "dry or frozen conditions."
The same audit found that only one of 33 wells in the area was accessed using a single trail, which is contrary to another AEUB guideline stipulating that vehicles should only use pre-existing and surveyed access routes to avoid additional disturbance. The biologist found that "short-cut routes" to wellsites "increase habitat fragmentation, soil compaction, disturbance of wildlife and promote the spread of invasive species." In the audit, 23 of 33 well sites were considered to have an overall disturbance level of more than 51 per cent and "despite the concept of minimal disturbance drilling techniques, a significant area around the well site was disturbed." The audit also revealed that Environment Canada is investigating the company for its impact on sand verbena.
In the documents released by the federal government, all information pertaining to the specific oil and gas company and company officials is blacked out. However, Fast Forward was able to confirm through a reliable source that EnCana was the operator at the Koomati site and was the oil and gas company being investigated for building a portion of its pipeline in the National Wildlife Area. Larry Ottmann, of Environment Canada’s wildlife enforcement division confirmed that EnCana is being investigated under both the Canadian Wildlife Act and the Species At Risk Act. Ottmann says the investigations are "coming to an end" and information about their outcome will be forwarded to the Department of Justice.
Thirteen oil and gas companies operate on CFB Suffield, but EnCana is by far the largest of these. In a February 8, 2006 letter obtained by the AWA, CFB Suffield base commander Daniel Drew says oil and gas industry activities on the base "illustrate an apparent lack of respect for the landowner and the lands themselves." He was referring to an environmental incident report that found that oil and gas companies had abandoned "hazardous material drums and lubricant pails, assorted pipe, plastic tubing, oil rags and frac sand" at well sites. The environmental incident report also recorded an oil spill that contaminated several hundred square metres of soil. The oil and gas industry was also criticized for failing to put metal grates instead of plywood coverings over well caissons in order to ensure wildlife weren’t endangered. In the environmental incident report, base environmental officer Wes Richmond wrote "the findings of this rather limited inspection indicate that the oil and gas industry is doing a very poor job of policing its activities" and "the base is not prepared to accept such sub-standard performance." Fast Forward was unable to confirm whether the environmental incident report referred to EnCana activities or another company’s activities. The environmental incident report was submitted to the Suffield Industry Range Control, an organization that oversees oil and gas activity on CFB Suffield. However, no one from the organization returned phone calls, and Fast Forward was referred to EnCana’s communications office for comment.
Alan Boras, Encana spokesperson, says environmental groups and the public will have an opportunity to question the company about its performance on CFB Suffield at the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency’s (CEAA) joint review panel hearings. As it is applying to drill in a national wildlife area, EnCana must submit to a public review.
When asked about information obtained through AWA’s access to information request, Boras says, "We have a process in place for a federal public review that we’re undertaking and we’ll continue on that path without getting into detailed discussion in the media.
"We were involved in the establishment of the area as a national wildlife area and we operated in that area for many years in a manner that would make it conducive and attractive to be established as a national wildlife area," says Boras. "Operating in an environmentally sound fashion is a very large priority for the company and integral to all the things we do. That doesn’t mean there are no impacts... but we work to minimize our impact."
Wallis says there’s plenty of evidence to the contrary. "They have all these wonderful words on paper, and they give us all these reassurances, but deeds speak louder than anything else on this planet," says Wallis. "One of the reasons we campaigned for the national wildlife area was to ensure it would be protected for wildlife and we certainly didn’t anticipate this level of additional proposed drilling activity. We’re quite horrified they would even be proposing it."
The joint review panel will hold public hearings on EnCana’s drilling application but no date has been set yet. |
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