The following article is an opinion piece submitted by Lorne Fitch
Resource Decisions in a Crisis—Cut, Drill and Dig Baby
Lorne Fitch, P. Biol.
“Never waste an opportunity offered by a good crisis”. Machiavelli, the author of The Prince (1532), seen as a reference for unscrupulous politicians, appears to be the go-to guide for our premier.
Premier Kenney and his cabinet must also be reading Naomi Klein’s book, The Shock Doctrine for ideas. She describes the use of “shock therapy” to exploit a crisis to push through controversial and questionable policies. When citizens are distracted emotionally and physically, most are unable to engage and develop an adequate response, or to resist effectively. It is a deliberate technique to discourage legitimate dialogue and to brutally force acquiescence.
The pandemic is being used to push through radical pro-corporate measures that are major concessions to the energy, forestry and mining sectors. Among other things this strategy includes:
The cessation of environmental reporting and monitoring requirements, which provide the benchmark for performance measures.
Speeding up approvals, even though no evidence exists that past review practices held up industry, which will ensure no public intervention occurs.
Rescinding rules for coal mining in the foothills and mountains, risking the integrity of the headwaters and the source of water for most Albertans.
Promoting a 13% increase in timber harvest, even though logging may not be sustainable at present levels.
Investing in questionable oil and gas companies and projects that private investors won’t touch.
Failing to diversify Alberta’s economy beyond extractive industries, which ignores the province’s future.
Cutting 184 parks and provincial recreation areas, especially in the foothills, clearing the way for industrial development and privatization.
Ignoring extensive public consultation, advice and progress related to land use plans, which alienates concerned Albertans.
This tsunami-like unravelling of environmental policies and regulations by the Alberta government is ideological, not logical or rational. The presumed cure (getting rid of anything perceived to impede business and diminish corporate profits) is many times worse than the illusionary problem. Implementing the playbook of corporations by dismantling the guard rails of environmental protection works for investors, but fails to protect the public interest.
Presenting this as it’s either the environment or the economy, is a Hobson’s choice, a false and misleading dichotomy. We can’t ignore the economy, but to ignore the environment (or give it lip service instead of real protection) will bite us badly. Reputationally Alberta will suffer when ethical investors bail from a Wild West business model (as some already have). Landscapes with ecological integrity protect and buffer us from floods, drought and biodiversity loss as well as provide a suite of economic advantages for recreation, agriculture and tourism. Squander that, and we undermine the most sustainable parts of our economy in favor of a short-term liquidation sale.
We can choose to cut more trees, mine more coal or extract more oil and gas, but we can’t have all of these and still retain functional, ecologically-intact landscapes. A gain in any of the former is a loss in the latter. It’s not even clear if more cutting, digging or drilling is economically beneficial for Albertans, given the dismal track record of undercharging for rents, royalties and reclamation levies. We taxpayers are already stuck with the bill for abandoned wells because of this flawed governance.
Even before this unprecedented unravelling of decades-old regulatory tools (which had the benefit of public consultation), there were many metaphorical land use fires burning in Alberta. Now the Alberta government is acting like a pyromaniac, lighting more fires and handing out more matches, rather than using the tools available to manage and control the existing fires.
Aldo Leopold, the dean of ecologists, described an oak tree outside an old farm house. The tree had provided shelter, shade, bird song and aesthetic appeal but it had been girdled and was dead. Leopold observed, “Girdling the old oak to squeeze one last crop out of the barnyard has the same finality as burning the furniture to keep warm.” A free-for-all of logging, mining and drilling to bail the province’s economy out, one last time, is the same as girdling the oak tree.
When ideology prevails over planning, we should fear the results. Instead of an imperious bit of blind political wand-waving (with the backing of industry), Alberta needs a systematic assessment of resource availability coupled with analysis of compatibility with other provincial responsibilities such as maintenance of water quality, watershed protection to ameliorate floods and drought, fish and wildlife protection (including species at risk recovery) and impacts on existing recreation and business interests. That type of public interest planning would help us understand what is in the realm of the possible for resource development, provide a measure of the impacts and consequences, assess mitigation and address true cost accounting.
Axing environmental protections, assuming this will be our economic salvation, isn’t a strategy—it’s a surrender. To do so in a pandemic, without considering the consequences, is putting the cart before the horse, or, the coal mine before the loss of native trout, logging before downstream flooding, and more oil before air and water pollution.
May, 2020
Lorne Fitch is a professional biologist, a retired provincial fish and wildlife biologist and a concerned Albertan.