ED STRUZIK, JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Edmonton, The Edmonton Journal, November 24, 1998.

Environment Minister Ty Lund went against recommendations by his own officials in bowing to Energy Department pressure to allow for a possible pipeline and utility corridor through Lakeland Provincial Park, The Journal has learned.

The region in east central Alberta was touted as a model for Alberta’s Special Places 2000 program when it was created in 1992.

A government commissioned report recently reported that Lakeland is already so carved up by oil and gas, forestry and recreational developments that its wilderness integrity has been seriously undermined.

Copies of government documents show that following pressure from Energy Minister Steve West, Lund agreed in June to the possibility of a pipeline and utility corridor through the 590 sq. km area.

Lund made the decision in June despite recommendations from a department committee, called the Environmental Resource Committee, to protect Lakeland’s environment by restricting both resource extraction and any further access, as well as by expanding the area’s boundaries, the documents indicate.

Neither Lund nor Environmental Protection officials were available for comment.

The pipeline and utility corridor is theoretical at this stage because no one in industry has stepped forward with a formal application.

However, the documents indicate the Energy Department believes the corridor will be needed to accommodate the multibillion dollar oilsands expansions in northern Alberta.

Special Places was intended to end the feuds between developers and environmentalists in the province by providing some measure of protection for areas of special ecological and heritage significance.

But conservationists say it has been a dismal failure thus far because of the government’s insistence that industrial development continue to be part of any future Special Places. All but two conservation groups have walked away from the planning process.

Copies of the documents indicate West first wrote to Lund on January 29, 1998, asking Lund to ignore the ERC recommendations to protect Lakeland’s environment.

"These initiatives would further restrict industry access and could negatively impact the development of Alberta’s oilsands," West wrote. "Consequently, any decision on the boundary or new access restrictions within the Lakeland Park … needs to be delayed pending the outcome of our discussions with industry on the most feasible location of the corridor.

In June, Lund responded with a proposal to allow the Lakeland Provincial Recreational Area to be used for the corridor and to reassure it would be business as usual for the oil and gas industry in the protected area.

"All existing procedures and conditions for dealing with exploration and resource issues within the provincial recreation area and on Crown land would remain as per current processes," Lund wrote.

The exchange between the two ministers occurred after the Department of National Defence apparently informed the province it wanted nothing to do with a proposal to have part of the utility corridor cut through the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range.

Bob King, deputy energy minister, subsequently wrote to Jim Nichols, his counterpart in Environment, outlining the predicament the government was in. In light of DND’s "adamant" opposition to a corridor through the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range, the "most practical route for this corridor may pass through or near the Lakeland Provincial Recreation areas," King stated.

" As discussions are actively under way to reconfigure this protected area, and possibly further restrict access, I ask that you delay any decision on the boundary, on new access restrictions, or a different designation … pending the outcome of our discussions with industry on the best location for a corridor."

Just days earlier, Nichols wrote to Lund outlining the Environmental Resource Committee’s recommendations to further restrict access and expand the boundaries of the Lakeland area. He pointed out that ERC was largely in agreement with recommendations that arose from public hearings in the region.

Lund, however, responded that "we must identify a pipeline corridor either through the Lakeland Provincial Recreational areas or the air weapons range."

Peter Lee, Alberta director of the World Wildlife Fund, one of the conservation organizations still participating in the Special Places process, questioned Lund’s priorities in this case.

"Taking into account everything that is already undermining Lakeland’s wilderness integrity, the addition of a utility corridor makes us worry about the level of impact. The first priority of the minister should be conservation, not industrial use."

Lee pointed out that Premier Ralph Klein once touted Lakeland as a template for the government’s protected areas strategy.

"If that’s true it’s going to be a frightening legacy for protection," he said. "In light of decisions like these in Lakeland, there won’t be much left to protect."