[R-G] Environmentalists Win landmark Tar Sands Lawsuit

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.commondreams.org/news2008/0305-11.htm	  	

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 5, 2008
4:49 PM
	

CONTACT: EcoJustice
Sean Nixon, Staff Lawyer, Ecojustice (604) 685-5618 ext. 241
Simon Dyer, Pembina Institute (403) 322 3937
Stephen Hazell, Sierra Club of Canada (613) 241-4611 or (613)  
724-1908 (cell)
Myles Kitagawa.Toxics Watch Society of Alberta (780) 439 1912 or  
(780) 907 1231 (cell)

Environmentalists Win landmark Tar Sands Lawsuit
Court Finds Gaping Holes in Environmental Assessment


EDMUNTON - March 5 -The Federal Court of Canada today released a  
judgment finding fatal legal errors in the environmental assessment  
of the Kearl Tar Sands Project, north of Fort McMurray.

Ecojustice lawyer Sean Nixon was in court in January on behalf of the  
Pembina Institute, Sierra Club of Canada, the Toxics Watch Society of  
Alberta and the Prairie Acid Rain Coalition.

"This is a huge victory," said Nixon. "The Court accepted our  
position that the environmental assessment was flawed, and that the  
Joint Panel failed to explain why they thought the Kearl Project  
would cause only insignificant environmental harm. We will now  
consider whether to bring another lawsuit to challenge the project's  
federal permit that was granted without legal authority."

Ecojustice (formerly Sierra Legal Defence Fund) filed the lawsuit in  
Federal Court in March 2007 challenging a Federal-Provincial Joint  
Panel report that concluded the $5 to 8 billion project is not likely  
to result in significant adverse environmental effects. Evidence in  
the case showed that the Kearl Project will result in greenhouse gas  
emissions equivalent to the annual emissions from 800,000 passenger  
vehicles over the 50 year lifespan of the project. The Alberta  
government proposed to address these emissions through "intensity- 
based" emissions targets. The Court held as follows (paras.78-79):

The evidence shows that intensity-based targets place limits on the  
amount of greenhouse gas emissions per barrel of bitumen produced.  
The absolute amount of greenhouse gas pollution from oil sands  
development will continue to rise under intensity-based targets  
because of the planned increase in total production of bitumen. The  
Panel dismissed as insignificant the greenhouse gas emissions without  
any rationale as to why the intensity-based mitigation would be  
effective... ...given the amount of greenhouse gases that will be  
emitted to the atmosphere and given the evidence presented that the  
intensity based targets will not address the problem of greenhouse  
gas emissions, it was incumbent upon the Panel to provide a  
justification for its recommendation on this particular issue.

"The tar sands are the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas  
pollution in Canada," said Simon Dyer from the Pembina Institute.  
"This decision highlights that intensity-based targets allow  
pollution to grow and do not protect the environment. We need real  
action by the Federal Government in the form of regulations to reduce  
total amount of greenhouse gas pollution."

The decision follows internal government warnings that environmental  
assessments were not being properly conducted for tar sands projects,  
and that cumulative impacts of tar sands development are being ignored.

"The judgment means that climate change impacts need to be taken  
seriously in environmental assessments of the tar sands" said Stephen  
Hazell, executive director of Sierra Club Canada. "For too long, our  
governments have professed concern about growing greenhouse gas  
emissions while taking no action to reduce those emissions from  
projects that they regulate. In effect, the Federal Court is saying  
that this hypocrisy has to stop."

For further information please contact:

Photographs and B-roll video of tar sands mine development are  
available at www.oilsandswatch.org

Sierra Legal is now Ecojustice - Visit www.ecojustice.ca