Pembina, Other Green Groups, Resign From Tar Sands Forum - Consultations "A Farce" - G&M

[hatrack]

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Canadian environmentalists have found key allies in the U.S. Congress and elsewhere in their bid to force the industry to dramatically reduce greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, as well as other pollutants. The Alberta government is fighting back with a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign that has, among other things, brought U.S. journalists and politicians to Fort McMurray to see the projects for themselves. That public relations campaign suffered a setback yesterday when three groups that have sought to work with the province on environmental impacts said the consultations had become a farce.

Frustrated that repeated calls to curb oil sands development are being ignored, the groups are pulling out of the Cumulative Environmental Management Association (CEMA), a consortium comprised of government, industry, First Nations groups and non-governmental organizations that have an interest in the oil sands.

"We tried the inside approach to bringing about change ... and the government has said 'yup, we hear what you're saying and we agree that these are the problems' and yet they haven't been willing to step up," Chris Severson-Baker, a policy director for the Alberta-based Pembina Institute, said. "We feel we've exhausted the possibility of working within CEMA to bring about changes."

Pembina Institute, along with the Toxics Watch Society of Alberta and the Fort McMurray Environmental Association, have been working with CEMA since its inception eight years ago. The association was created to bring together a range of stakeholders to assess the environmental effects of oil sands projects and to make recommendations on how projects should proceed.

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080819.ROILSANDS19//TPStory/Environment

[mike_c]

1. in the end, all we've learned will amount to nothing....

People will sell their grandmothers-- or their childrens' right to a clean planet-- in order to make a profit on oil or to keep the rest of their profit-generating economies afloat. Greed is the ultimate human motivator.