The Ministerial Order requires Gas Plus and Handel Transport to confirm the location of all contaminated material, dig up contaminated material and begin a remediation program to address the remainder of the contamination within four months.

The order supports the work of Alberta Health Services by broadening the indoor air quality sampling area to include more homes and businesses and ensuring that indoor air quality monitoring is carried out by an independent qualified professional. Alberta Environment and Water will continue to work closely with Alberta Health Services to ensure the health-related clauses of the order are addressed.

Since late 2010, significant efforts have been made to bring this company into compliance. Government will continue to pursue all avenues available to ensure the quick and effective clean up of the site. The Ministerial Order takes into account recommendations of the Environmental Appeals Board after a four-day hearing held in November 2011 and replaces the original Environmental Protection Order issued in December 2010.

Alberta Environment focuses on education, prevention and enforcement to ensure all Albertans continue to enjoy a clean and healthy environment. When individuals or companies fail to comply with our legislation, Alberta Environment has a range of options depending on the offence to ensure compliance with our environmental regulations.

Media inquiries may be directed to:
Carrie Sancartier, Communications
Alberta Environment
780-427-6267
Carrie.Sancartier@gov.ab.ca

To call toll free within Alberta dial 310-0000.

'Alberta Health Services has a mandate to provide patient-focused, quality health care to more than 3.7 million adults and children living in Alberta. Each day, the 90,000 AHS employees and Alberta's physicians work to provide the best possible care for patients and their families; this is a responsibility that we take to heart each and every day.

In order to address the challenges facing health care in Alberta, it is clear that we need to remain focused on our plans for improvement. The past week, in particular, has been challenging to many in our organization, and it is time to move on with our strategies for action to provide quality health care for Albertans. It is clear that there is work ahead to achieve the ultimate goal of becoming the best-performing publicly funded health care system in Canada. To that end, AHS remains focused on three key initiatives: opening more continuing care beds; reducing emergency department wait times; and adding new capacity. These are challenging goals, requiring multi-layered, systematic changes and improvements. We are taking immediate action to achieve these goals and we are seeing some early successes. AHS has committed to opening more than 1,300 new continuing care beds in Alberta this fiscal year. To date, we have opened more than 800 new beds. We are on track to meet our goal by the end of March 2011. This means that by the end of March, we will have opened new facilities and expanded the number of beds available in communities such as Lethbridge, Cardston, Calgary, Red Deer, Edmonton, and Slave Lake. We are committed to opening an additional 1,000 beds a year for the next three years. We have also committed to reducing the pressures in our emergency departments to ensure timely care for those who need it most. There is no single magic fix to this issue, or we would have implemented that long ago. There are, however, several solutions being implemented immediately. Opening additional continuing care beds in the community will free up hospital beds currently occupied by Albertans whose health needs would be better met in a long-term care facility or a supportive living environment. Opening more beds in hospitals will also reduce emergency department lengths-of-stay for many patients requiring admission. We are implementing new surge capacity protocols to provide additional capacity when demand on Emergency Departments and across the health system reaches critical thresholds. When reached, the new protocols trigger immediate actions to reduce wait times. To support the new protocols, AHS is opening 49 additional beds in Edmonton and 32 in Calgary. This will help ensure that physicians and staff have back-up beds and resources to quickly ease capacity pressures.

AHS is adding about 360 new, fully staffed hospital beds by March 2011. This is in addition to the surge capacity beds, referenced above, which are part of the Emergency Department protocols. We are also increasing home care spending in an effort to keep seniors safe, healthy and independent in their homes. This will reduce pressures in Emergency Departments. In addition, we are informing Albertans about their care options. Some health needs are best met in a place other than a hospital emergency department - a family doctor's office, perhaps, or an urgent care centre. And finally, we are establishing length-of-stay targets: Four hours from triage to discharge for patients who do not need hospital admission; and eight hours from triage to bed placement for patients who do require hospital admission.

We have a plan, established by the board, being delivered by management. Central to that plan is the commitment to meet the needs of patients, one at a time. Nothing else is more important to the health system right now than focusing on access and quality, and we are unwavering in our commitment to improve the delivery of health services in our province. AHS employees are focusing on the job at hand: to achieve the goals that AHS has established, and to serve Albertans. We will not waver from this clarity of purpose.'

A special thanks to all my constituents who have taken the time to call, write and meet with me over the past several years
Your many well thought out comments and advice has been of immeasurable value to our Government and to all the people of Alberta.
As always, my staff and I are available to answer any questions and/or concerns that you may have.

• energy evaluations for homeowners to assess the current energy efficiency of their home and to measure its efficiency after improvements are made;
• efficient home heating systems, hot water heating systems, clothes washers and insulation upgrades; and
• new homes achieving a high level of energy efficiency.

'The tremendous response to the energy efficiency rebate program in just under a year speaks to the commitment of Albertans to reduce their environmental footprints,' says Environment Minister Rob Renner. 'Consumers have the power to make a positive environmental impact through their day-to-day energy decisions. Clearly, the people of our province want to do their share.'

Delivering on commitments laid out in its 2008 Climate Change Strategy, the Government of Alberta invested $36 million over three years to help Albertans reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Many of the rebates are tied to the federal ecoENERGY Retrofit Program, enabling consumers to recoup costs from both programs. The program is administered by Climate Change Central, a non-profit organization empowering Albertans to take action on climate change.

Rebates are available on purchases retroactive to January 1, 2009. To apply for a rebate, visit http://www.climatechangecentral.com/ or phone 1-888-537-7202.