http://supporter.naturecanada.ca/site/PageServer?pagename=ActionAlert_Suffield2009

Preserve Suffield National Wildlife Area With Your Letter

An independent panel has recommended - for now - to reject a proposal to put 1,275 gas wells inside Suffield National Wildlife Area, but has left the door open for future requests. Tell Ministers MacKay and Prentice to permanently reject drilling inside protected areas like Suffield!

http://supporter.naturecanada.ca/site/PageServer?pagename=ActionAlert_Suffield2009

I Oppose Drilling inside Suffield National Wildlife Area

Subject: CEAR 05-05-15620 Shallow Gas Proposal in National Wildlife Area - Suffield, AB

Dear Ministers MacKay and Prentice:

As you know, Canadian energy company EnCana is seeking a permit to expand its drilling operations within Suffield National Wildlife Area near Medicine Hat, Alberta.  In 2003, the Department of National Defence and Environment Canada proudly established this NWA to protect a unique remnant of native prairie.

The Joint Review Panel that conducted the environmental assessment of this proposal has recommended against granting a permit for the project.  The Panel rightly concluded that “[t]he fact that a national wildlife area was created to protect the ecological integrity of this land and the species that occupy it, suggests that great care must be taken to preserve its attributes.”

The Panel also said the project would likely result in significant adverse effects on certain species at risk and consequently interfere with the conservation of wildlife if it was allowed to proceed without certain conditions first being met. 

I believe the risk to this protected area and its wildlife would be too high even under the Panel’s conditions.

I am writing to ask you, as the authorities responsible for the Suffield NWA and for protecting species at risk, to deny EnCana’s request for a permit to expand its drilling operations inside Suffield National Wildlife Area.

Thank you for considering my views.