ADVISORY: Green groups present ‘World Class’ award at Legislature following Total approval

28 January 2011 (EDMONTON)— Environmental groups will give the Alberta government a giant “world class” award tomorrow to highlight the growing chasm between what this government says and what it does.

The delivery comes one day after the provincial and federal governments approved a new open-pit tar sands mine, a move that environmental groups say shows just how deceitful government claims to improve the broken regulatory and monitoring process really are.

The approval of the mine came just minutes after the announcement of a provincial committee to provide recommendations for a “world class” monitoring system in the tar sands region. The committee has been criticized for its contingent of representatives with strong ties to the oil industry. The award will be presented to the premier on the front steps of the legislature.

Who:                Alberta representatives from Greenpeace and Sierra Club

What:               Delivery of “World Class” award to the Alberta government

When:              Friday, January 28, 11:00 am

Where:             Alberta Provincial Legislature, front steps

Total’s Joslyn mining project will result in one and a half million tonnes of greenhouse gas pollution each year, destroy seven thousand hectares of land (equivalent to 13,000 football fields), result in the production of 12.5 billion litres of toxic tailings waste each year, and remove and pollute up to 22 billion litres of fresh water from the Athabasca River each year

- 30 -

For more information, please contact:

Mike Hudema, Climate and Energy Campaigner , Greenpeace Canada, 780-504-5601
Dustin Johnson, Energy Campaigner, Sierra Club Prairie Chapter, 587-588-5890