Environmental group formed

News Briefs

Page 3

Fifty representatives from some twenty-three northern Alberta communities, associations and Native groups decided to form a new environmental coalition under the banner of Friends of the North at an environmental workshop held in Athabasca Mar. 4.

Their goal is to provide a united voice on social, economic and environmental issues raised by the provincial government's commitment to pulp and paper projects in northern Alberta's forests.

One of the coalition's concerns is that the province is moving ahead with proposed projects in the north "without meaningful public participation...it is imperative to delay all current and proposed pulp and paper developments until such a time as a series of full and complete public hearings have been held."

They go on to say, "The superficial examination of these questions by the E.I.A. (Environmental Impact Assessment) and the F.M.A. (Forest Management Agreement) processes is

not an acceptable alternative to public hearings in an issue of this magnitude and complexity."