Minister misled, betrayed Albertans on monitoring

March 09, 2011

Alberta’s NDP environment critic Rachel Notley is calling for Environment Minister Rob Renner to apologize and come clean regarding his past support for Alberta’s water monitoring program.

Her call follows a new report released today showing the Tories’ monitoring scheme was never meant to assess the impact of the oilsands industry.

While releasing this report, the Minister backtracked on his previous claims that industry-run monitoring (RAMP) was adequate and that toxins found in the water were “naturally occurring”.

“The minister can try to rewrite history, but the record shows that while the Tories barged ahead on development, their commitment to environmental protection was in spin only,” said Notley. “Albertans can’t trust the Tories to protect our health, our environment, or our energy industry.”

Tory failures to monitor pollutants and protect the environment are undermining international confidence in Alberta’s oil and putting Alberta jobs at risk.

“They’re happy to rake in $7 billion extra in royalties while freezing the environmental monitoring budget this year,” Notley said. “Our health, our wildernesss, and our reputation are sacrificed so the Tories can fill the holes in the budget and fill their party pockets with oil company donations.”