Sturgeon County covers an area of 2,100 sq km is just north of the City of Edmonton (see Map 1 - Regional Setting). Its land base consists primarily of farmland and industry. The County is part of Alberta’s Industrial Heartland - a 194 sq km (75 sq mi) area that includes a portion of Sturgeon County, the City of Fort Saskatchewan, Strathcona County and Lamont County. The Heartland area is one of Canada’s largest processing centers for petroleum, petrochemicals and chemicals, with over $11 billion in existing investment. It provides an important processing link from the Athabasca Oil Sands in northeastern Alberta to market destinations in North America and overseas. Over thirty companies are located in Heartland, including leading international petrochemical corporations such as: Agrium, Air Liquide, Amoco, Chevron, Degussa-Huls, Dow Chemical, Imperial Oil, Praxair, Shell Canada, Shell Chemicals Canada, Sherritt International and Williams Energy.
Alberta’s Industrial Heartland has been identified as one of several Canadian locations with excellent potential for additional eco-industrial development. The strategic advantages of the Heartland area include:
The North Saskatchewan River forms the eastern boundary of Sturgeon County’s portion of the Heartland area. Several other significant watercourses enter the North Saskatchewan River near the Plan area, including the Sturgeon and Redwater Rivers.
Within the Sturgeon County portion of the Heartland area, the majority of the land can be characterized as agricultural with a cluster of heavy industrial uses in the vicinity of Secondary Highway 643 and the Canadian National Rail line. Much of the ASP area is used for mixed agricultural purposes such as pastureland and potato and grain farming. Most of the residences are single-family dwellings associated with farms.
A small industrial cluster located in Sturgeon County abuts the Canadian National Rail Line near Secondary Highway 643. It consists of William Energy (natural gas liquid midstream business), Degussa-Huls Canada (hydrogen peroxide plant) and Agrium (fertilizer plant).
Secondary Highway 643 and Highway 38 provide the main access routes to this area of the Heartland. Rail access is provided by Canadian National Railway. The area is serviced by several pipelines.