Foreign Environmental Groups looking to place more pressure on Oilsands Operations (Calgary Herald)

TransCanada"s Keystone pipeline. The 3,456-kilometre (2,148-mile) Keystone Pipeline will transport crude oil from Hardisty, Alberta to U.S. Midwest markets at Wood River and Patoka, Illinois and to Cushing, Oklahoma. The Canadian portion of the project involves the conversion of approximately 864 kilometres (537 miles) of existing Canadian Mainline pipeline facilities from natural gas to crude oil transmission service and construction of approximately 373 kilometres (232 miles) of pipeline, pump stations and terminal facilities at Hardisty, Alberta. The U.S. portion of the project includes construction of approximately 2,219 kilometres (1,379 miles) of pipeline and pump stations.
Photograph by: TransCanada, Courtesy of TransCanada

EDMONTON — A collection of environmental groups from the United States and Europe is calling on the Alberta government to form an independent panel of experts to assess concerns with a new provincial land-use plan for the oilsands region.

The 16 groups, including the National Wildlife Federation and the Rainforest Action Network, purchased a half-page ad in Friday's Edmonton Journal in which they published a letter spelling out misgivings with the Lower Athabasca Regional Plan.

The letter said an independent panel is needed to "conduct an assessment of the LARP and recommend improvements to ensure the air quality, water quality and quantity, biodiversity and ecosystem health are not compromised."

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