Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) has filed a submission to the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) to stop Syncrude’s proposed Mildred Lake extension (MLX).
Located just 35 km northwest of Fort McMurray, the MLX project would produce another 184,000 barrels of oil per day and extend Syncrude’s mining activity in the ACFN-held territory into 2036.
ACFN Chief Allan Adam said that in the last four decades of mining in the area, Syncrude impacted the ACFN’s ability to live off the land and an extension of MLX on the already fragile land would “push the area beyond the point where it can be restored.”
“We can hardly get a boat through the Delta, migratory birds don’t fly over, the fish are diseased, and our people are sick. Throughout this whole time Syncrude has not provided any compensation to ACFN for these impacts. Now, Syncrude wants to make their mines even bigger.”
Adam also said the ACFN has provided the AER with evidence that MLX would “exacerbate the cumulative effects” of current Syncrude projects in the area such as declining water levels, increased contamination, and the destruction of the remaining caribou and moose habitat
“ACFN has shown that we can work well with industry. But, Syncrude has not made good faith efforts to resolve our concerns…We expect that the AER and the Province of Alberta will ensure that the MLX Project is rigorously assessed.”
The AER hearing is scheduled to take place in Fort McMurray from Jan. 22, 2019 to Feb. 8, 2019.
