Where, exactly should the workers go?

Editorial appeared in Fort McMurray Today Nov. 22, 2006

It's a balancing act.

The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo has appeared before a third Alberta Energy and Utilities Board hearing to speak against proposals by oilsands companies to build or expand here.

The theory behind the opposition is sound: the region needs help to cope with the growth.

That argument is unassailable. It's bomb-proof.

When taking it further, however, officials open themselves up to criticism that might prove hard to handle.

Mayor Melissa Blake and other officials have consistently stressed they're not opposed to investment by industry in this region -- a key point -- they just want help. The infrastructure deficit must be addressed, they argue. Quality of life is suffering, they say.

Most citizens would support that argument wholeheartedly. Those who live here don't have to be schooled in the Fort McMurray disadvantage.

So far, so good.

But oilsands plants are adapting to gain the upper hand.

Starting with Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., and continuing with Imperial Oil's Kearl, almost every new project is looking at the fly-in and fly-out strategy.

It seems to be a win-win for the plants and for the region. Workers are parachuted in from Edmonton, Calgary and across Canada. They have little effect on the local economy, because they don't live here -- they live in camps to the north.

Kearl is more than 70 kilometres northeast of Fort McMurray. Even if the company could find homes for its construction workers here -- and that's a big if -- they'd spend hours a day on buses. Some plants have compensated for this by putting the employees on the clock when they step on the bus -- but at a big cost.

Blake is arguing against oilsands plants that house employees in town and don't do more to help the municipality in the form of infrastructure. She's looking for financial help. It's a just cause.

She's also arguing against those plants that don't use infrastructure -- like housing or the highway -- because those workers don't use services in the city, thereby contributing to the local economy.

Wood Buffalo cannot have its cake and eat it too.

The first plant expansion that municipal officials opposed -- Suncor Energy's Voyageur -- was approved.

While the arguments have been refined in each of the subsequent oppositions, they may ring hollow if the words are ultimately ignored.

It's obvious the panels that listen to submissions and rule on the applications are made up of smart, savvy people. They said Wood Buffalo's objections to Voyageur should be addressed by the Alberta government. They handed a political issue off to other politicians.

Saying we don't want new workers in town and we don't want them out of town is a rough road to traverse.

When funding requests end up in the laps of provincial politicians, they can use this argument to turn Wood Buffalo down.

This balancing act will work until someone slips and falls. Wood Buffalo must be sure of its footing.

© Copyright 2006, Fort McMurray Today.