As part of Budget 2020, the Government of Alberta has committed $196.3 million over three years to continue to advance the Springbank Off-Stream Reservoir (SR1).
While we had been assured that SR1 remained fully funded to $432 million, no firm dollar amount had been provided by the province until now.
Combined with the $168.5 million in federal funds announced last spring and the funds already spent to date, this commitment closes the gap needed to fully fund the project.
Read the official media release here.
Ignasiuk report now public
In April 2019 expert regulatory lawyer Martin Ignasiak was hired to assess opportunities to expedite the construction of SR1.
His advice to Alberta Transportation has now been made public* and is available alongside other key SR1 documents at alberta.ca/resources-springbank-off-stream-reservoir.
The report is a must-read. In 19-pages it tells the regulatory story of SR1 from selection onward and lays out the steps ahead.
- Steps that took place in choosing SR1 as the superior project
- Typical steps for both a provincial and a federal regulatory process and how long they each should take
- Comparison to SR1’s regulatory process, highlighting events that caused significant delays
- Timeline prediction for the remaining regulatory process
- Advice for the remaining regulatory process
*The report was completed in June 2019.
Direct link to the report here.
SR1 Timeline
Given the timeline predictions in the Ignasiuk report, we estimate that SR1 construction could begin as early as fall 2021 and be operational in time for flood season 2024.
Following regulatory approval, SR1 would take two years to build to a functional one-in-100-year capacity, and three years to build to full completion (capacity of the 2013 flood).
-Government of Alberta
While this spring has brought many instances of good news for SR1, there are still many key steps before we get to shovels in the ground.
The next foreseeable opportunities for public engagement are as follows:
- Summer/Fall 2020 – IAAC will invite public comments on the Draft Environmental Assessment Report (once all information requests are concluded)
- Early 2021 – NRCB pre-hearing proceedings will begin. A Notice of Application will set out a process for persons who may be directly affected by the project, or who, in the NRCB’s view, have a bona fide interest in the matter, to apply for intervenor status.
Media coverage:
If you have any questions or comments, reach out to us at info@crcactiongroup.com.
Regards,
Your CRCAG Board