Good afternoon, and thanks for having us today.
My name is Jim Vollmershausen. My day job is with Environment Canada, with which I'm a director general in Edmonton. But today I'm here speaking as the chairman of the Mackenzie River Basin Board, and certainly the focus of what I have to say will be on the work of that board.
Initially, I'd like to first share with you a bit of information regarding the size and complexity of the Mackenzie River Basin. It has cultural, political, geographic, and environmental characteristics that are unique and significant by world standards.
It's a big basin. It's huge. At a staggering 1.8 million square kilometres, it's about one-sixth the size of our country.
It has only a small population of about 360,000 people. Even though it does include Fort McMurray, it still has only 360,000 people. But everybody who lives in the basin depends in some way on the rivers and the lakes and the waterways and the three world-class deltas that are in the basin. The population is very diverse in lifestyle and heritage. Aboriginal people living in the basin speak eleven different languages, which is a good example of that diversity.
Another characteristic of this basin that's a bit different from other big river basins in the world is development. The reason we're here today, of course, is that the development is in the extreme upstream portions of the basin, whereas in most big rivers, the development and the big populations are at the very downstream end, at the river mouths and so on. So it makes for a different dynamic, for sure, in the Mackenzie.
The Mackenzie River Basin Board was created in 1997, with the signing of a transboundary waters master agreement between the Government of Canada and the Governments of Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories. These are the governments with jurisdiction to manage water and the environment in the basin, and their members on the board, both government and aboriginal or both, are who I'm representing today.
The agreement establishes common principles for the cooperative management of the aquatic ecosystem of the basin. There are five principles, and they are as follows:
1. Managing the Water Resources in a manner consistent with the maintenance of the Ecological Integrity of the Aquatic Ecosystem;
2. Managing the use of the Water Resources in a sustainable manner for present and future generations;
3. The right of each to use or manage the use of the Water Resources within its jurisdiction provided such use does not unreasonably harm the Ecological Integrity of the Aquatic Ecosystem in any other jurisdiction;
4. Providing for early and effective consultation, notification and sharing of information on developments and activities that might affect the Ecological Integrity of the Aquatic Ecosystem in another jurisdiction; and
5. Resolving issues in a cooperative and harmonious manner.
The agreement established the Mackenzie River Basin Board to guide adherence to those principles. It has developed a strategic plan and has published its first report, “Mackenzie River Basin Board's State of the Aquatic Ecosystem Report 2003”. I can arrange to have copies of that document made available to you if you would like.
Of particular interest to this committee will be the “State of the Aquatic Ecosystem Report” that contains a chapter dedicated to the Athabasca sub-basin, in which the northern Alberta oil sands are located. The report notes that the growth and expansion of the oil sands industry has and will certainly continue to have an impact on the regional environment. Large-scale water use for processing or deep well injection land disturbance from the large mining operations; potential water contamination from tailings ponds; and air pollution in the form of acidifying emissions, particulate matter, sulphur, and greenhouse gases, are concerns that have been raised.
These concerns are echoed in the provincial-regional sustainable development strategy, or RSDS, for the oil sands area and the Cumulative Environmental Management Association, or CEMA, has identified surface water quality as a potential environmental concern. CEMA is a consensus-driven organization that is multi-stakeholder, with industry, environmental group, aboriginal, Métis, first nations, municipal, federal, and provincial representation. It's a very broad group, and it has been charged with trying to manage the cumulative environmental affects in the oil sands area. It has identified surface water quality as a potential environmental concern. The RSDS, the provincial strategy, contains a blueprint for action to address the issue, and CEMA is developing environmental objectives and management recommendations for surface water quality.
I'd like to stress that the board is not a regulatory or licensing board. We don't hold hearings or grant permits or anything like that. It has no legal or policy basis to regulate resource use in any of the jurisdictions. However, the board can influence regulatory decisions made in the various jurisdictions in a number of ways. We can provide factual material, such as the “State of the Aquatic Ecosystem Report”, to inform development decisions. We can participate in and influence pre- or post-regulatory processes, such as planning regional or cumulative environmental impact assessment processes or ministerial reviews of sensitive decisions. We can appear as a “friend of the tribunal” in federal, provincial, or territorial public hearings to advocate for the principles endorsed in the master agreement.
Of some importance, the master agreement also mandates the development of bilateral agreements between neighbouring jurisdictions that are intended in fact to provide the cornerstone for sound aquatic ecosystem management within the basin. So far, we have one between the NWT and the Yukon Territories--they've completed an agreement--but the board encourages, certainly, other member jurisdictions to follow suit.
Using that “State of the Aquatic Ecosystem Report” is a starting point. It's a valuable aid to helping them define what will be sent across provincial and territorial boundaries. In the context of the oil sands area of the basin, the two bilateral agreements between B.C. and Alberta and between Alberta and the NWT are clear priorities, and work is certainly under way now to conclude them.
It is important to note that the board regularly discusses a number of pressures within the basin and has heard presentations on such issues as potential climate change impacts, the Mackenzie gas pipeline and its associated exploration and production activities, the impacts on flows of the operation of the Bennett Dam, as well as the potential oil sands impacts. These are all referenced in the “State of the Aquatic Ecosystem Report” and will almost certainly be the subject of future reports. In addition, they are important starting points for the negotiation of our bilateral agreements.
Finally, of course, the board has opportunities to hear from jurisdictions about progress regarding these issues, and others for that matter, at its regular meetings.
That's basically what I wanted to share with you today about the Mackenzie River Basin Board, and I thank you for the opportunity.