Suncor plans to pump 1 billion barrels of oil from a wetland but vows to protect the other half with a wall

When Elder Barb Faichney flips through family photos, McClelland Lake is a recurring theme. Her family's trapline skirts the banks of the lake north of Fort McMurray, Alta., which has long been a special place for them to hunt, trap and gather.

This may not be the case for future generations, she said, if energygiant Suncor moves ahead with a plan to expand its Fort Hills oilsands facility to mine part of the lake's adjacentwetland.

"My grandchildren, they won't be able to enjoy McClelland Lake, they can't say, 'Look, Granny'sfootprints are all over here,'" said Faichney, who lives in and is amember of Fort McKay First Nation. "It'll be all gone."

McClelland Lake in northern Albertais at once an important gathering place for local First Nations, a carbon sink, a wildlife habitat and a major potential source of bitumen.

Plans to mine it have been brewing since 2002, when the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (a precursor to the Alberta Energy Regulator) allowed the company TrueNorth Energy to develop part of the wetland within its oilsands lease. Those plans kicked into high gear last fall, when the energy regulator gave current owner Suncor a green light to move ahead with its operational plan.

But permission to mine the McClelland Lake wetland comes with a caveat:The original 2002 approval hinged on the company agreeing to mine only about half the wetland while leaving the other half undisturbed.

Suncor says it will do this by building awall nearly 14 kilometres long and between 20 and 70 metres deep to separatethe two halves, a plan that's become the focus of growing opposition from wilderness advocates and scientists.

Scientists, First Nations advisers concerned

It's not just outside observers who are concerned. Some of Suncor's own scientific and First Nations advisers have also expressed hesitationabout how the plan to expand the multibillion-dollar Fort Hills oilsands project is unfolding.

As an elder, Faichney has sat for years on a sustainability committee that advises Suncor on its operational plan,which lays out how the company will protect the unmined portion of the wetland.But she said she remains unconvinced that the plan will workand now wants it to be abandoned.

"My preference would be [they] pack up and get out of there," Faichney told CBCNews in an interview.

Scientists who advise Suncor's sustainability committee have also raised concerns.

CBC News has obtained a copy of a recent presentation made by a technical advisory group for the project thatexpresses concern and frustration with how the company will monitor the unmined part of the wetland and ensure it's kept safe from the impacts of mining.

Suncor declined an interview with CBC News while the Alberta Energy Regulator considers a request from a conservation group to reconsider the project, but it has said in correspondence that its plan is based on years of consultation and expert knowledge.

The stakes are high for Suncor to keep the project afloat. The Fort Hills oilsands is a major priority for the company, which recently spent more than $1 billion to obtain full ownership. The facility, which opened five years ago, is expected to have a 50-year lifespanand has capacity to produce 194,000 barrels of bitumen per day.

"[Fort Hills] is a key piece of Suncor's overall supply strategy," said Richard Masson, an Executive Fellow at the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy.

'I don't trust things will go as planned'

The McClelland Lake wetland itself is believed to overlay about a billion barrels of oil, according to documents filed with the regulator back in 2002.

It's also a special place for nearby First Nations communities to harvest traditional food and medicine. It's a source of animals for food like waterfowl and moose and fur.

"It's a sacred place that provides the spirituality, connectedness for our First Nations, especially the ones that grew up around here and occupied the area before industry came in," said Jean L'Hommecourt, a traditional land use specialist with the Fort McKay sustainability departmentand a member of Fort McKay First Nation.

Suncor's plan including what L'Hommecourt callsits "ludicrous plan of a wall" puts that in jeopardy, shesaid.

"I don't see any way you can cut off half of something and have the other half be made to survive," L'Hommecourt said.

Like BarbFaichney, L'Hommecourt is also a member of Suncor'ssustainability committee for the plan. But she is quick to point out that her participation doesn't mean she endorses it. Instead, she sees it as a necessary step to preventSuncorfrom interpretinga lack of engagement as tacit approval.

"If you don't get involved, they think that 'Oh, they don't care, they don't say anything,' and they take it as a 'Yes, go ahead,'" L'Hommecourtsaid.

Past problems in the oilsands, such as tailings pond leaks, don't give L'Hommecourt confidence about the industry's ability to protect the environment.

"I don't trust that things will go as planned because there's always human error, there's technology that messes up things, and sometimes you find out too late," she said.

Faichney agreed: "I'd like them to go away, leave it alone," she said.

'Inadequate' understanding of reference sites

A group of scientists thatprovides technical advice to Suncor's sustainabilitycommittee hasalso expressed hesitation about how the company's plan is being implemented.

CBC News has obtained a copy of an October PowerPointpresentation that was made by the committee's technical advisory group, whose backgrounds include wetland hydrogeology, ecology and aquatic chemistry.

In it, the groupnotes thatreference sites and background data in the operational plan are"still inadequate." Without asolid understanding ofreference ecosystems, it says, it will be difficultto understand if future changes to McClelland are the result of mining or other factors, such as weather variability or climate change.

"TAG [technical advisory group] considers the lack of monitoring and evaluation of reference ecosystems to be the gravest omission from the Operational Plan," reads an excerpt from the PowerPoint.

The slide decks also point out that while wildlife is of key value for nearby First Nations, there has been "no progress on monitoring or understanding" and that when it comes to water-quality modelling, "conceptual and numerical models are incomplete."

CBC News reached out to the scientists listed as part of Suncor'stechnical advisory group, but none agreed to an interview.

"It was very obvious that there was a considerable degree of frustration being felt by the technical advisory group," said Richard Lindsay, head of environmental and conservation research in the Sustainability Research Institute of the University of East London.

Lindsay, a specialist in the ecology and conservation of peatland ecosystems, has written to the Alberta Energy Regulator asking it to reconsider Suncor's operational plan. While Lindsay is not part of the technical advisory group, he agreed to review the PowerPoint and offer his opinion.

WATCH | The importance of McClelland Lake:

Why McClelland Lake matters

12 months ago

Duration 0:45

Elder Barb Faichney explains why she is so concerned about development encroaching on the McClelland Lake wetland complex.

He said the role of thisgroup is to ensure that Suncor meets the requirement set out by the energy regulator: to mine only part of the wetland and leave the other half undisturbed.

"The point about the technical advisory group is that they are there to guide Suncor in achieving the best possible outcome," he said. "If Suncor ignores the advice of the TAG, what's the point of the TAG?"

Alberta Energy Regulator re-examining project

For now, the future of the McClelland Lake wetland project remains in the hands of the Alberta Energy Regulator. It's mulling whether to reconsider its approval of theSuncoroperational plan after receiving a critical report in the spring from the Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA).

That report, based on research commissioned by the AWA, flagged a number of concerns with Suncor's plan, ranging from the risk of saltwater mixing with groundwater to what it described as a"very poor" plan for resupplying water to the unmined wetland.

"It comes across to us as just a big experiment," said Phillip Meintzer, a conservation specialistwith the association.

The AWAis invested in the McClelland Lake wetland because it's an important carbon sink, Meintzer said, and a natural water filtration system.

During forest fire season, this type of spongy wetland can slow the progress of encroaching flames, he said, and it's also an important area for wildlife. It's used by about200 species of birdsand is a safe place for them to land in an area surrounded by tailings ponds.

"We risk losing a lot," Meintzer said."Even if half of this area is destroyed, we still lose a lot."

Suncor disputes objections

In correspondence to the province's energy regulator,Suncor has disputed the objectionsraised by the Alberta Wilderness Association, saying these concerns are based on false assumptions, are unsupported by evidence or otherwise demonstrate a lack of expertise.

Suncor has also said cut-off wallshave been commonly used by industry in the past to manipulate groundwater flows or act as a barrier to groundwater. It also noted it's not uncommon for these cut-off walls to be used in concert with other features like pumping and injection wells.

The company pointed to a bentonite cut-off wall built at the Suncor Base Plant south tailings pond in 2008 as an example, which will be used to inform design of the wall used in the McClelland Lake wetland.

If the energy regulator agrees to reconsider the project, Suncor said it would be playing into the hands of industry opponents and set a precedent that would harm resource development in Alberta.

The University of Calgary's Richard Massonis not involved in the project but saidit's important to consider that resource development also brings about financial and job benefits for workers, contractors and governments.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Alberta Energy Regulator said it's reviewing submissions from both Suncor and the AWA and couldn't estimate when a decision would be reached about the project.

As for Faichney and L'Hommecourt, they plan to stay on the committee until the end but are hoping that endwill come sooner rather than later.

"My biggest hope is that AER will come to their senses and say, 'No, this project is not viable,'" L'Hommecourt said.