RED DEER A D V O C A T E , Saturday, July 6, 1991

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• • Red Deer Advocate •

Local
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Cabinet OK's Buffalo Lake stabilization
Local/B2
Classifleds/B3-BS

City editor: C a r o l y n M a r t l n d a l e

By JIM LOZERON
of The Advocate
S T E T T L E R — A controversial
plan to raise the level of nearby
Buffalo Lake has been approved by
the provincial cabinet.
The $13.1-million water project in
Premier Don Getty's Stettler riding
had been considered for at least 20
years before getting the official goahead.
Environment Minister Ralph Klein
said Friday construction and engineer­
ing work will begin some time this year
on the scheme to divert water from the
Red Deer River through Parlby Creek
to Buffalo Lake.

The project is designed to improve
water supplies in Mirror and Alix, in­
crease recreational benefits of Buffalo
Lake and boost area agriculture.
The on-again, off-again project, re­
jected several times as too costly and
environmentally damaging, is still un­
dergoing a federal environmental as­
sessment.
But Jeff Stein, head of the resource
impact section of the Fisheries and
Oceans Department, said the review by
three federal agencies won't likely af­
fect the Getty government's decision to
stabilize the lake.
"It is no different than the Oldman
River dam," Mr. Stein said in an inter­

A s s i s t a n t city editor: M a r y - A n n Barr, 343-2400

view from Winnipeg. "The fact that we
had to conduct a review of the dam did­
n't stop construction."

prove drinking water in nearby vil­
lages, but will have a minor negative
effect on waterfowl and birds.

By law, all projects which could
potentially affect fish habitat must be
screened by the federal government.

Mr. Klein announced the cabinet
decision in a prepared statement. He
was attending he Calgary Stampede
and was unavailable for further com­
ment.

Mr. Stein said the federal report as­
sessing the effect of the project on
water quality, waterfowl and the fish
habitat should be released in two
weeks.
In approving the scheme, the cabinet
agreed with the findings of a public re­
view panel headed by former Lacombe
mayor Don Thorne.
The panel said the project will im

Opposition politicians, noting that
Premier Getty's home is located on the
south shore of the lake, said the deci­
sion smacks of pork-barrel politicking.
But in the Buffalo Lake area, sup­
porters of the project welcomed the
news that the plan, shelved in 1984,
was going ahead.

"I believe in the future people will
be thankful that the province has acted
to save the lake and the resource will
be available for future generations,"
resort owner Jean MacDonald said.
New Democratic critic John Mclnnis
recalled that the project was revived
just weeks after Mr. Getty won the
1989 Stettler byelection.
"I think it is a phenomenal abuse of
the premier's power," he said.
Grant Mitchell, Liberal environmen­
tal critic, called the decision base poli­
tics and said he is not convinced the
project won't kill fish in the lake.
" Premier Getty is using taxpayers'
money as if it were his own," he said.