Oil & Gas

CPAWS-Yukon voices concerns about oil and gas dispositions at Eagle Plains and in Peel Watershed

Letter from CPAWS-Yukon Conservation Campaigner Mac Hislop

April 27, 2007

The Honourable Archie Lang, Minister
Yukon Department of Energy, Mines and Resources

Re: Proposed Oil and Gas Dispositions at Eagle Plains and in Peel Watershed

Dear Minister Lang,

As you will appreciate, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS-Yukon) is firmly opposed to the proposed oil and gas dispositions in the Peel Watershed and at Eagle Plains. We believe that entertaining oil and gas dispositions in these areas before completion of land use planning is ill-advised and contrary to principles of good public land management.

Modified Oil and Gas Disposition Process

Our organization is concerned with the Yukon Government’s (YTG) modified “free-entry” style land grab for the oil and gas industry. We believe that this is a throwback to old-style, cowboy oil and gas development. YTG’s new “industry driven” process opens the entire Yukon Territory except for lands specifically excluded by legislation, and some lands currently specified by policy, as off limits to the oil and gas industry. This is, we believe, at odds with public expectation of a well-managed oil and gas industry. It apes the Alberta oil and gas disposition process. And that is not a surprise; because rather than consulting Yukoners and asking them how to improve the way oil and gas rights are awarded to industry, YTG chose to consult the oil and gas industry exclusively.

Concern with Areas Nominated

Two areas have been nominated for oil and gas dispositions: Peel Watershed and Eagle Plains. We believe that a responsible balanced approach to development would include setting aside lands of high conservation value from resource disposition pending completion of land use and protected area planning. We draw your attention to the fact there has been and continues to be strong community opposition to allowing oil and gas development in the Peel watershed in advance of land use planning. The Yukon Government has been advised repeatedly by First Nations governments, Renewable Resource Councils, other mandated boards and councils, business organizations and conservation organizations to complete land use and protected areas planning in advance of development. By including lands of high conservation value – including the Peel Watershed, Turner Lake wetlands, Porcupine Caribou Herd winter range, and now the Whitefish Lakes Wetlands Complex – in oil and gas dispositions, the Yukon Government is putting sensitive Yukon fish and wildlife populations and ecosystems at risk.

continued …

Download the complete letter
cpaws-emr-letter-2007-0427.pdf
(Acrobat [PDF] format, ~60K)