Third time could be the charm for land use strategy
Aug 23, 2012 at 7:11 am in Business, News by tyler.king
The province has unveiled its latest long-term plan for the oil sands region.
The Lower Athabasca Regional Plan will set limits for air and water quality, establish new conservation areas, and start to diversify the local economy.
Environment Minister Diana McQueen says the plan is much needed.
“Alberta’s last period of hyper-growth clearly demonstrated the need for orderly, responsible, long-term land use planning,” she said. “Now, in a new time of strong growth, the need to plan for the area that contains our main economic driver is abundantly clear.”
The plan should be implemented starting next month.
McQueen says there’s more than 2 million hectares of conservation areas under the plan.
“That’s three times the size of Banff National Park,” she said, “and is the largest single-day announcement of new conservation areas in Alberta since the establishment of Wood Buffalo National Park in the 1920s.”
As a result of those changes, 19 oil sands leases will be cancelled, and companies will be paid compensation.
August 23, 2012
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