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Environmental Coalition to Challenge EnCana at Toronto Shareholder Meeting

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Calgary (April 21, 2008) – The six-group coalition opposing EnCana’s plans to expand operations in the Suffield National Wildlife Area will challenge the company at EnCana’s annual general meeting on Tuesday, April 22 (Earth Day!).

The purpose of this federally protected area is to protect endangered native prairie habitat for 18 species of animals and plants threatened with extinction, and another 76 species of concern.

“Many people perceive EnCana as an environmentally sensitive business,” says Julie Gelfand, executive director of Nature Canada. “Their plan to drill 1,275 shallow gas wells and build 220 km of pipeline in protected pristine native prairie certainly turns that perception on its head.”

At the AGM, Carla Sbert, the coalition’s representative, will ask EnCana for information showing that the reputational risk to the company of proceeding with the Suffield plans is in the interest of EnCana’s shareholders.

“There is no mention of this project in the annual report and no sign that the implications for the company’s reputation have been seriously considered,” Sbert notes. “With increasing public criticism of EnCana, shareholders should be made aware of risk information around this project.”

While EnCana claims the expanded drilling would have insignificant and mitigable impacts on the protected area, conservation experts and the Government of Canada have presented extensive evidence to the contrary.

The environmental coalition opposing EnCana’s proposal believes there is a win-win alternative. “EnCana could demonstrate support for the National Wildlife Area by foregoing the opportunity to exploit it, an action that could have reputational and fiscal advantages for the company,” says Cliff Wallis, vice-president of Alberta Wilderness Association, a member of the coalition.

The AGM is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. (EDT) at the Four Seasons Hotel Toronto, Regency Ballroom, 21 Avenue Road, Toronto.

For more information:


Cliff Wallis, Alberta Wilderness Association: 403-271-1408 (cell: 403-607-1970)

Carla Sbert, Nature Canada: 1-800-267-4088 ext. 222, csbert@naturecanada.ca

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