Landowners on the pristine eastern slopes of the Rockies want hearings into Petro-Canada's proposed sour gas pipeline delayed until the Alberta government releases its rules on land use.

Every seat was filled in a community hall in the village of Longview where the Energy Resources Conservation Board set up Tuesday to hear submissions about ground rules, such as the location, time and speakers, for the oil company's public hearing this summer.

Kananaskis Country is home to wildlife and popular with outdoor enthusiasts.
(CBC)

The proposed 40-kilometre pipeline would run from near Longview to Coleman through largely untouched wilderness in Kananaskis Country, southwest of Calgary. The area is popular with cross-country skiers, hikers and other outdoor enthusiasts.

Seventeen groups made presentations on why they should be allowed to speak at the project hearing, expected this July.

"The board probably needs to understand the complexity of their decision. It's easy to take the industrial approach and just think we have to achieve a certain goal," said Francis Gardner, a rancher leading a landowner organization called the Pekisko Group.

"But I think it's our job to make them aware of what the implications of that kind of thinking are."

Some landowners, concerned about the effect on wildlife and the environment, said hearings into the project should wait until the province releases a land-use plan for the eastern slopes.

A provincial committee toured Alberta last spring, asking citizens how the government should govern and manage public and private lands as well as natural resources, and reported to the government. The province had said a draft land-use plan would be out by the end of 2007.

"There will likely be new restrictions on how oil and gas development occurs and where it occurs, so we don't know, but maybe one of those restrictions will be that this particular area of the eastern slopes is going to be off limits," said Gavin Fitch, a lawyer representing one landowner.

Ranchers and landowners opposed to the pipeline also worry that it will open the door to more development.

"With energy No. 1 in the province, they go, 'Hey, we can do anything.' I say that if they get their foot in the door, they'll run, and then we're forgotten," said rancher Tom Bews.

Petro-Canada promises responsible development

Darin Barter, a spokesman for the energy board, said it has to proceed under existing legislation regardless of what the land-use framework might say.

Petro-Canada spokesman Kyle Happy said the company plans to develop the resource in a "responsible manner."

"We're confident in the development of this project and that we've been able to present something that would meet or exceed what would be presented by the government," said Happy.

"Obviously when something does come out, we'll take that into consideration."

There are plans to limit access to the region during construction, and Petro-Canada has already developed a response plan to notify people in the "unlikely event of an emergency."