Life in the Heartland

November 2010

Welcome!

iPod Winner

Congratulations to the winner of the Life In The Heartland iPod Nano giveaway, Elaine Hernon of Sturgeon County! Elaine’s name was drawn from the many Heartland residents who saw our ads in area papers and signed up to receive the Life In The Heartland newsletter.

Thank you to everyone who took part in the contest; we hope you’ll share this newsletter with your friends and neighbours.

Christmas in the Heartland

We will be at Christmas in the Heartland on November 27 at the Moyer Recreation Centre in Josephburg. We hope you'll grab a Life in the Heartland reusable shopping bag and chat with one of us about Life in the Heartland.

Christmas in the Heartland runs from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on November 27 at various locations throughout Strathcona County. Click here for more information.

Safety and emergency response received the highest level of satisfaction in a recent survey of residents in Alberta’s Industrial Heartland. The annual survey conducted by the Life in the Heartland initiative provides residents an opportunity to share their opinions on topics pertaining to the Heartland and industrial development.

“One very positive highlight is that 49% of residents reported having heard of Life in the Heartland,” commented Laurie Danielson, Chair of Life in the Heartland and Executive Director of the Northeast Capital Industrial Association. “The initiative began just over a year ago to enhance communication with residents in the Heartland. To be recognized by nearly half of survey respondents means we are gaining traction, and this is great news.”

Over 280 surveys collected at community events in Fort Saskatchewan, Lamont County, and Sturgeon County showed that residents are most satisfied with the management of safety, emergency response, noise, and light. Land use planning and transportation had the lowest level of satisfaction among residents, though these two topics still received a score above 3 on a 5 point scale. Resident satisfaction levels of all topics will be evaluated by Life in the Heartland partners.

The survey results provide valuable insight for planning Life in the Heartland activities and communication strategies. The initiative was launched in June 2009 with the goal of becoming a valued two way information hub that provides a needed service to communities in and around Alberta’s Heartland region.

Safety & Emergency Preparedness in the Heartland

The recent Life in the Heartland survey shows that Heartland residents gave a high satisfaction rating for safety and emergency response in the region. For industries in the Heartland, commitment to facility safety and overall emergency response planning are ongoing activities that begin during construction and remain throughout daily operations.

Industrial plants are engineered, designed and built to ensure process safety. Computerized control systems, along with containment and automated safety systems provide inherent levels of process protection. Highly trained employees monitor processes, and can quickly investigate any unusual circumstances or respond to incidents at their sites. Local industries and municipal emergency services work together closely through the local mutual aid emergency response organization, Northeast Region Community Awareness Emergency Response (CAER).

Northeast Region CAER members conduct emergency response planning for large-scale incidents with potential to impact the community. The group believes that everyone has a role in safety – industry, municipal fire departments and the public. A prepared community is one that understands risks in its area, and the safety precautions to take in an emergency.

Shelter-in-Place

In our region, there is potential for an airborne release of a hazardous substance. This can occur at one of the industrial sites, or in a transportation related incident such as a train derailment, truck roll over or pipeline break. Shelter-in-Place is the recommended community first response to a major release incident. Shelter-in-Place protects people from exposure to peak chemical concentrations in the air until they can be dispersed by wind and weather conditions.

Northeast Region CAER actively promotes Shelter-in-Place, which includes these steps:

Take family members and household pets inside. Turn on local radio/TV.
Close all doors, windows and openings.
Shut off ventilation systems that draw outdoor air inside.
Listen to radio or TV for further instructions.

Know what to do. Learn more about Shelter in Place at www.nrcaer.com.

Cumulative Effects Management: The Ultimate Multi-Tasking Endeavor

Preserving, enhancing, and managing our environment is a hot topic from classrooms to boardrooms. It’s also a complicated topic, given the interconnectedness of elements like air and water across vast geographic areas. Add in typical human activity and development, and environmental management becomes much more complex.

Fortunately, environmental management has been ongoing and growing for decades in Alberta’s Industrial Heartland. This is no simple feat, considering the region is 582 square kilometres and includes pristine rivers, prosperous agriculture lands, and multi-billion dollar industrial complexes side-by-side. Over the past few years, as municipal and industrial growth continued, the need for proactive environmental management became greater, and so did a merging of environmental management tools for the Heartland area.

In 2007, the Government of Alberta recognized this need and officially adopted the “Cumulative Effects Management” (CEM) approach. This new approach integrates the methods, science and technology into a coordinated, integrated and legislated system. CEM is designed to protect the water, air, land, and biodiversity of Alberta, while recognizing industrial and municipal growth will continue. The CEM approach applies to the entire province; however, Alberta’s Industrial Heartland and the Capital Region are identified as an important area for managing cumulative environmental effects because of industrial and municipal development.

Previous to the CEM approach, individual projects and initiatives dealt with one segment of the environment alone, such as water or air. Though great work was being done, a merging of these individual projects enhances efforts to manage environmental effects in the Heartland. Now, the initiatives for these segments of the environment are coordinated and implemented under the umbrella of CEM so they work in unison rather than in isolation.

Since adoption of the CEM approach, significant work went into three frameworks to form the foundation for managing cumulative effects in the Heartland:

Water Management Framework for the Industrial Heartland and Capital Region - Currently in the implementation stage, and includes the Groundwater Management Framework for the Industrial Heartland
Air Management Framework for the Industrial Air Management Area - Currently in the developmental stage, with plans to finalize and move to implementation in the near future
Elemental Sulphur Management Framework for the Industrial Heartla Elemental Sulphur Management Framework for the Industrial Heartland - Completed and ready for implementation as growth pressures dictate

Other plans and projects feed into and support CEM, including the Climate Change Plan, Land Use Framework, Biodiversity Strategy, Capital Region Growth Plan, and others. Continued work on these and other projects ensure that municipal and provincial strategies align and reinforce CEM.

Cumulative Effects Management for Alberta’s Industrial Heartland and Capital Region is being led through a multi-stakeholder Cumulative Effects Management Advisory Group which includes Alberta Environment, Alberta’s Industrial Heartland Association, Northeast Capital Industrial Association, Strathcona Industrial Association, North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance, surrounding municipalities and industrial companies.

Land Use Planning in the Heartland

Land is a valuable resource with many competing uses. Agriculture, recreation, forestry, mining, housing, infrastructure, and industrial development are just a few activities requiring Alberta’s land. With a finite amount of land but an increasing number of uses, land use planning is very important.

Land use planning is a comprehensive process that identifies optimum uses of land in balanced and effective manner. It also helps ensure activities on the land base are compatible and minimizes conflict between the various uses, such as industrial development and residential housing. Land use planning also serves as a basis for the adoption of zoning and other land use controls.

Land use planning was traditionally under the jurisdiction of municipal government. But because decisions for land use can affect municipal neighbors, land use planning also incorporates considerations at the regional and provincial levels.

Land Use in Alberta’s Industrial Heartland

Alberta’s Industrial Heartland is 582 square kilometers encompassing land in five different municipalities - two are cities (Fort Saskatchewan and Edmonton) and three are counties (Lamont, Strathcona and Sturgeon). The region offers a number of strategic attributes, making it an attractive location for industrial development – transportation access, pipeline systems, availability of feedstock, existing industry, proximity to Alberta’s oil sands, and more. Clustering industry in this area promotes synergies between companies, helping lower their overall environmental footprint.

Recognizing the unique assets the area offers, the Heartland partner municipalities developed and adopted a Complementary Area Structure Plan Complementary Area Structural PlanComplementary Area Structure Plan, which ensures the individual plans of the municipalities are complementary, consistent, and minimize conflict. The plan outlines land uses, general location of transportation and infrastructure routes, density of population, and other relevant matters. It serves to guide future planning and development of lands within each municipality.

The planning process gathered information on soil, vegetation, wildlife, cultural/historical features, etc. An extensive public consultation process was also included.

Zoning in Alberta’s Industrial Heartland

Zoning is an important component of land use planning. There are a number of different priorities for development within the Heartland and the zoning reflects this approach. At the center of the region, lands are zoned Heavy Industrial, allowing a wide range of industrial activities like petrochemical processing, upgrading, and refining. Providing a buffer between heavy industrial lands and rural/agricultural lands outside the region, a Transition Zone ensures separation between industrial operations and country residential. Activities permitted within the Transition Zone include light and medium industrial development. Conservation zoning protects environmentally sensitive areas such as the banks along the North Saskatchewan River.

Zoning within the Heartland focuses primarily on industrial development, but it forms only part of the larger “municipal development plan” for the individual municipalities. These plans include residential, agricultural, environmental, and other uses. A wide range of land uses helps meet the needs of society, the environment, and the economy.

Aligning With Other Jurisdictions

Land use planning in the Heartland is aligned with the broader land use planning of the Greater Edmonton region’s Capital Region Board. This agency was created in 2008 to coordinate the overall planning across the Edmonton region to ensure they are aligned with the long term growth forecasts and avoids conflicts across municipal boundaries.

In addition to municipal government involvement in land use planning, the Government of Alberta is now also embarking on a provincial land use initiative called the Alberta Land Use Framework. It provides a blueprint for land use management and decision making that addresses the recent growth in Alberta. Decision making authority remains with the same local officials who currently exercise it, but future decisions will have to be aligned with the provincial Framework. The Framework is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2012.