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4186 IN THE MATTER OF THE JOINT REVIEW PANEL ("JOINT PANEL") ESTABLISHED TO REVIEW THE JACKPINE MINE EXPANSION, FORT MCKAY, ALBERTA, ("PROJECT") PROPOSED BY SHELL CANADA LIMITED ("SHELL") AND IN THE MATTER OF ALBERTA ENERGY RESOURCES CONSERVATION BOARD ("ERCB") APPLICATION NO. 1554388 AND IN THE MATTER OF CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AGENCY ("AGENCY") CEAR NO. 59540 AND IN THE MATTER OF THE ENERGY RESOURCES CONSERVATION ACT R.S.A. 2000 C. E-10 AND IN THE MATTER OF THE OIL SANDS CONSERVATION ACT, R.S.A. 2000, C.0-7 AND IN THE MATTER OF THE CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT ACT, 2012, S.C. 2012, C. 19, S. 52 BY THE ALBERTA ENERGY RESOURCES CONSERVATION BOARD AND THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA _______________________________________ PROCEEDINGS AT HEARING NOVEMBER 21, 2012 VOLUME 17 PAGES 4186 TO 4454 ________________________________________ C o p y ________________________________________ Held at: Four Points by Sheraton Edmonton South 7230 Argyll Road Edmonton, Alberta Realtime Connection [email protected] 4187 APPEARANCES JOINT PANEL: Mr. Jim Dilay, Panel Chair Mr. Alex Bolton, Panel Member Mr. Les Cooke, Panel Member CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AGENCY (CEAA): Charles Birchall, Esq., CEAA Counsel Ms. Jill Adams, Joint Review Panel Manager. ENERGY RESOURCES CONSERVATION BOARD (ERCB): Gary Perkins, Esq., Board Counsel Ms. Meighan LaCasse, Board Counsel Ms. Amanda Black, Hearing Coordinator Mr. Bob Curran, Section Leader, Public Affairs, ERCB Communication PANEL SECRETARIAT: Mr. Paul Aguas Ms. Gladys Onovwiona Mr. Yetimgeta Mihiretu Ms. Tara Wang Ms. Krista Boychuk Ms. Erin Tough Mr. Steven van Lingen Mr. Don South Mr. Michael Bevan Ms. Afshan Mahmood Mr. Daniel Martineau Ms. Courtney Trevis Mr. Jean-Pierre Thonney Ms. Deborah Austin Realtime Connection [email protected] 4188 APPLICANT Shawn Denstedt, Q.C. ) Shell Canada Ltd. Sander Duncanson, Esq. ) Dan Kolenick, Esq. ) INTERVENERS (in alphabetical order): Eamon Murphy, Esq. ) Athabasca Chipewyan Ms. Jenny Biem ) First Nation Kirk Lambrecht, Q.C. ) Attorney General James Elford, Esq. ) of Canada Ms. Donna Deranger ) Donna Deranger ) (Self-represented) Ms. Karin Buss ) Fort McKay First Nation ) and Fort McKay Métis ) Community Association Rangi Jeerakathil, Esq. ) Fort McMurray #468 First ) Nation Ms. Anna Johnston ) John Malcolm, the ) Non-Status Fort ) McMurray/Fort McKay ) First Nation and the ) Clearwater River Paul ) Cree Band #175 Ms. Cynthia Bertolin ) Métis Nation of Alberta Ms. Debbie Bishop ) Region 1 and the ) individuals and groups ) named together with ) Region 1 Don Mallon, Q.C. ) Mikisew Cree Ms. Daniela O'Callaghan ) First Nation Thomas Rothwell, Esq. ) Minister of Justice and ) Attorney General of ) Alberta ) (No further ) participation) Realtime Connection [email protected] 4189 Ms. Karin Buss ) Oil Sands Environmental Ms. Melissa Gorrie ) Coalition Ray Purdy, Q.C. ) Regional Municipality of Ms. Katherine Morianos ) Wood Buffalo Tore Purdy, Esq. ) Ms. Chelsea Flook ) Sierra Club Prairie (Registering on its behalf) ) Ms. Melissa Gorrie ) Keith Stewart (Registering on his behalf) ) Ms. Sheliza Ladha ) Syncrude Canada Ltd. Ms. Kellie Johnston ) TOTAL E&P Canada Ltd. Ms. Melissa Gorrie ) Clinton Westman (Registering on his behalf) ) Ms. Melissa Gorrie ) Anna Zalik and (Registering on their behalf) Osume Osuoka REALTIME COURT REPORTING: Realtime Connection, Inc. Nancy Nielsen, RPR, RCR, CSR(A) Stephen Gill, OCR Realtime Connection [email protected] 4190 INDEX OF PROCEEDINGS DESCRIPTION PAGE NO. FINAL ARGUMENT BY THE OIL SANDS 4193 ENVIRONMENTAL COALITION, BY MS. GORRIE (CONTINUING): QUESTIONS BY THE JOINT REVIEW PANEL, BY 4229 THE CHAIRMAN: FINAL ARGUMENT OF THE ATHABASCA CHIPEWYAN FIRST NATION, (CONTINUING), BY MS. BIEM: FINAL ARGUMENT OF CHIEF ADAM OF THE 4293 ATHABASCA CHIPEWYAN FIRST NATION: FINAL ARGUMENT OF JOHN MALCOLM, THE 4297 NON-STATUS FORT MCMURRAY/FORT MCKAY FIRST NATION AND THE CLEARWATER RIVER PAUL CREE BAND #175 A, B, AND C, BY MS. ANNA JOHNSTON: FINAL ARGUMENT BY MR. MALCOLM: 4332 FINAL ARGUMENT OF THE MIKISEW CREE 4335 FIRST NATION, BY MR. MALLON: HOUSEKEEPING MATTER SPOKEN TO BY 4356 MR. MURPHY: COMMENTS BY MR. DENSTEDT: 4357 REPLY COMMENTS BY MR. MURPHY: 4359 (THE LUNCHEON ADJOURNMENT) (12:15-1:15) 4359 FINAL ARGUMENT OF THE REGIONAL 4361 MUNICIPALITY OF WOOD BUFFALO, BY MR. PURDY: FINAL ARGUMENT OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 4392 OF CANADA, BY MR. LAMBRECHT: REPLY SUBMISSIONS OF SHELL CANADA, BY 4423 MR. DENSTEDT: HOUSEKEEPING MATTERS SPOKEN TO: 4450 CLOSING COMMENTS BY THE CHAIRMAN: 4452 (THE HEARING CLOSED AT 3:40 P.M.) 4453 Realtime Connection [email protected] 4191 INDEX OF EXHIBITS DESCRIPTION PAGE NO. THERE WERE NO EXHIBITS MARKED. Realtime Connection [email protected] 4192 INDEX OF UNDERTAKINGS DESCRIPTION PAGE NO. THERE WERE NO UNDERTAKINGS GIVEN. Realtime Connection [email protected] 4193 1 Wednesday, November 21, 2012 2 Volume 17 3 Edmonton, Alberta 4 (8:00 a.m.) 5 6 THE CHAIRMAN: Good morning, everyone. 7 Is there any housekeeping? I take it not. 8 Ms. Gorrie, are you going to continue? 9 MS. GORRIE: Yes, I am. 10 THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you. 11 12 FINAL ARGUMENT BY THE OIL SANDS ENVIRONMENTAL COALITION, 13 BY MS. GORRIE (Continuing): 14 MS. GORRIE: So good morning, Panel. 15 Before I return to discussing the key issues 16 at play regarding Shell's Assessment, I'd like to 17 take a moment to respond to comments that were made 18 yesterday about Dr. Schindler and that he did not 19 put forward alternative information and he relied 20 on the research of others. Simply that is not 21 accurate. Dr. Schindler brought scientific 22 information to the attention of the Panel, 23 including his own, and that of Environment Canada, 24 and other scientists. He relied mostly on industry 25 monitoring of past emissions and industry Realtime Connection [email protected] 4194 1 consultants' modelling of future impacts. Shell 2 agreed that Schindler's original research has been 3 important in identifying deficiencies. 4 Successive expert panels have confirmed that 5 far more contaminants are getting into the 6 environment than industry has reported and this 7 pollution is toxic and can cause harm. 8 The issue is not so much past impacts in the 9 last decade, but what will happen in the next 10 decade when bitumen production doubles. It seems 11 that Shell has picked through publications to find 12 selected papers and quotes to support its 13 arguments. 14 And there is no validity to this approach. 15 Shell's consultant even went so far as to 16 quote an editorial summary of a study; the Aherne 17 and Shaw comment was again cited by Shell in its 18 final argument. 19 This is a clear example of the problem that 20 the expert review panels have identified; the lack 21 of systematic credible analysis by persons who are 22 qualified to do so. 23 And let's not forget that the discredited 24 RAMP program is run by the same consulting firms 25 who have done most of the past EIAs, including this Realtime Connection [email protected] 4195 1 one. 2 Shell also essentially accused Dr. Schindler 3 of being a fear monger because the Kelly et al. 4 research identifies PAHs as carcinogenic. So does 5 Shell's EIA. The only difference is he identified 6 that these pollutants are increasing and there may 7 be cause for concern, whereas Shell dismisses or 8 denies this. 9 Scientific truth may be inconvenient, but 10 continued attacks on Dr. Schindler does not advance 11 the public interest in protecting people and the 12 environment. 13 So I'd now like to turn to speak about air. 14 NOx emissions have been steadily rising in the 15 region. This is confirmed by Wood Buffalo 16 Environmental Association's monitoring stations and 17 satellite images. Shell predicts annual NOx 18 emissions at their fence line will be above the 19 Alberta Ambient Air Quality Objectives. 20 The annual maximum emissions at the 21 Millennium monitoring station were 30 micrograms 22 per metre cubed in 2011. That measurement must be 23 put in context, as that data is based on production 24 levels of 500,000 to 1.5 million per day or less 25 over the last 10 years, which is approximately half Realtime Connection [email protected] 4196 1 of what has since been approved. It's also 2 important to note that this Project will add 5.8 3 tons per day of NOx. 4 Modelling of NOx emissions were based on the 5 assumption that the entire mine fleet would be 6 replaced by equipment meeting TIER-IV standards by 7 the end of 2024 at the latest. This assumption was 8 made not just for this Project, but for all mines. 9 Yet Shell testified it could not commit to ensuring 10 their fleet met TIER-IV standards by 2025. 11 Therefore, Shell's predictions of future ambient 12 air concentrations of NOx is not conservative; a 13 view shared by Environment Canada. 14 It is very likely that this additional 15 Project will not meet the regional standards of 16 annual average of 45 micrograms per metre cubed. 17 Shell testified it was going to experiment 18 with alternative fuel for its mine fleet and did 19 not plan on any retrofits to reduce emissions. 20 Shell, however, did not provide any 21 information regarding what measures it could take 22 to reduce emissions if monitored air quality 23 exceeds thresholds. 24 Without any evidence of mitigation being 25 undertaken, approving this Project will contravene Realtime Connection [email protected] 4197 1 the LARP Air Quality Management Framework. 2 Now, Shell states that that framework will 3 only apply if monitored ambient air levels exceed 4 the guidelines. However, LARP was intended to 5 guide decision-makers, including the ERCB, 6 according to the Land Stewardship Act.