A northern Alberta MLA says he is disappointed his government will allow a Calgary company to search for oil under a pristine lake, calling the minister of sustainable resource development a "rookie."

On Tuesday, the province quietly approved the company's request to shoot powerful blasts of air into Marie Lake, which is about 280 km northeast of Edmonton near the city of Cold Lake. The echo from these blasts will tell whether there's oil under the crystal clear water.

Oil Sands Underground Mining Corp. expects to find close to two billion barrels of bitumen below the lake bed.

Denis Ducharme, the MLA for Bonnyville-Cold Lake, said he didn't know the project had received the go-ahead until he heard the news on CBC Radio Thursday morning, even though fellow Conservative Ted Morton is the minister of sustainable resource development.
 
"The decision leaves me very upset and very disappointed. I'm upset that it's a bad decision by a rookie minister. There were several questions posed by my constituents to Minister Morton on the possible environmental risk on Marie Lake, which still today remain unanswered."

Ducharme said hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil already leave his constituency on a daily basis and there's no reason to gamble one of Alberta's most pristine lakes for more development.

Morton is on vacation and unable to respond to Ducharme's comments.

Dave Ealey, spokesman for the ministry, said in the last five years seismic testing has been conducted on 34 bodies of water in Alberta.

"There are very few instances where we've not permitted an exploration project to go forward."

CBC News couldn't reach the company for comment.

Property owners in the area wrote petitions and demonstrated at the legislature, calling on the province to protect Marie Lake.
 
"I'm kind of in shock," said Cara Francis, who lives in a lakefront home with her two children and husband. "You just hope that the government you voted for will listen to what you have to say, and they obviously are not."

She said she's worried about the quality of her well water and that the powerful air guns will harm fish.

"It's going to affect how they find their food. It's going to affect how they survive in the water."