'800,000 cars idling for 24 hours a day all year long'

OTTAWA -- Federal NDP Leader Jack Layton called on the federal government yesterday to halt development of a new oil sands site in northern Alberta, saying it has the potential to be a pollution nightmare.

It appears that Ottawa has already quietly approved the Kearl mine, where Imperial Oil Ltd. plans to spend $8 billion, 70 kilometres north of Fort McMurray.

Layton says Kearl will generate 3.7 million tonnes of greenhouse-gas emissions each year, the equivalent of 800,000 cars idling for 24 hours a day all year long.

The project has become a flashpoint in the national debate about oil sands development.

Imperial was on track to receive regulatory approval for the development of the site, including a successful application for a water permit from the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Then environmental activists successfully convinced a Federal Court judge to set aside that permit by arguing that Imperial had not provided the right kind of information about greenhouse-gas emissions in its application.

The federal cabinet then got involved and essentially overrode the Federal Court decision the day after it was rendered. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is expected to reissue the permit.

Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn defended the government's approach. "Every single environmental process, every regulation's being followed. The toughest standards are being set," he said.

David Akin, Canwest News Service

Published: Friday, June 06, 2008

© The Vancouver Province 2008