As a hearing into a proposed sour gas development in Kananaskis Country kicks off, local ranchers and conservation groups are banding together to oppose Petro-Canada’s proposed Sullivan gas field project, arguing the environmental footprint will be too great.
The Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) hearing began in High River November 12. The company plans to drill 11 new wells just inside the eastern border of K-Country west of Longview, along with a 51-kilometre pipeline that will cross about 40 creeks and waterways in the area. The project’s opponents say the pipeline will bisect some of the last remaining pristine land in Alberta’s southeast slopes.
“This landscape has to have some ecological integrity to be a top-notch watershed, as well as a provider of wildlife, as well as a retentive resource for food,” says Gordon Cartwright, a rancher with the Pekisko Group. “…It’s about time that we started thinking about what this landscape’s going to look like after oil and gas fades from the province’s economy.”
The hearing is scheduled to go on until at least November 27.
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