Alberta Premier Ralph Klein has dismissed a call for a long-range plan on oilsands development, saying it would hinder progress.

The Pembina Institute and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society released a report earlier this week urging a moratorium on oilsands development until a comprehensive plan is formed to protect northeastern Alberta's boreal forest.

"The Pembina Institute should keep their noses out of anyone's business, especially businesses that want to take risks,'' Klein said Thursday.

"To have a long-range plan would be an interventionist kind of policy which says you either allow them or you don't allow them (to proceed). The last thing we want to be is an interventionist government.''

NDP critic David Eggen, who supported the call for a long-range plan, scorned Klein's reaction.

"It seems pretty irresponsible for him to say that," Eggen said. "If the Tories don't want to make decisions about the future, maybe they should step aside and let the New Democrats take a shot at it."

The institute's report suggests that steam-assisted oilsands drilling will cover an area the size of Florida -- about 21 per cent of Alberta -- and have severe consequences for wildlife.

The authors forecast that oil companies will clear nearly 300,000 hectares of forest and construct over 30,000 kilometres of road in the process of developing current leases.

The report suggests that typical oilsands development cannot sustain many boreal wildlife species, including caribou, lynx, marten and some forest bird species and may drive them to local extinction.

Three Republican Congressmen from Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina who visited Alberta earlier this week also said they don't want to see oilsands development slow down because it could be a stable supply of oil for the U.S.

With files from The Canadian Press