Canada's Oil-Sands -- A New Look and a Fresh Perspective
Tar sands need better monitoring says a panel of topscientists
In what may stand as a new datum point on reporting the environmental
impacts of Canada’s oil sands industry, a panel of top scientists
has reported that claims about the health and environmental effects
of oil-sands development in northern Alberta may be
exaggerated.
class=”MsoNormal”>The group has also identified weakness in
monitoring of developments in the oil patch and noted there is
inadequate evidence to support some of the claims being made about
remediation technologies now in place.
class=”MsoNormal”>The panel, convened by the Royal Society
of Canada (RSC), also found fault with some aspects of media
reporting on oil sands issues as well as with the exaggerated and
often unsubstantiated claims being put forward by some
environmental groups.
class=”MsoNormal”>The RSC review, commissioned in October
2009, was intended to undertake an independent review of some of
the controversial health and environmental statements made about
the industry. The panel reviewed hundreds of peer-reviewed papers
and other studies.
class=”MsoNormal”>“Contaminant exposures cannot explain the
excess cancer rate,” says Steve Hrudey, an emeritus professor in
environmental health research at the University of Alberta in
Edmonton and the panel’s chair. “We don’t question the numbers of
cancer cases but the air-quality data and the water-quality
monitoring data don’t support that.”
class=”MsoNormal”>The panel also assessed the operation and
reclamation of tailings ponds that hold mining debris,
environmental regulatory performance, and the feasibility of
reclamation, and looked at the impacts of oil-sands development on
regional water supply, water quality and ground-water quantity;
local air quality; and levels of greenhouse-gas
emissions.
class=”MsoNormal”>The number and size of tailings ponds,
which contain sand, silt, clay, minerals and chemicals left over
from bitumen extraction, continue to grow in the region and
currently cover about 130 square kilometres.
class=”MsoNormal”>Recent studies found that the high levels
of naphthenic acids seen in some pond effluent can halt fish
reproduction, says Glen Van Der Kraak, a fish toxicologist at the
University of Guelph in Ontario and a panel member.
class=”MsoNormal”>A lot depends on tailing ponds being
cleaned by the industry, says Van Der Kraak. “Industry needs to
demonstrate this will be a viable long-term option.”
class=”MsoNormal photoright”>
class=”MsoNormal”>Oil-sands operators are required by law to
return the land they disturb to its original state, whether
meadows, wetlands or forests, before development. But such land
reclamation is not keeping pace with development, the panel writes.
More than 600 square kilometres of land have been disturbed by
oil-sands mining in the region.
class=”MsoNormal”>“Land reclamation is a huge issue because
of the land area disturbed and the intensity of the disturbance,”
says Anne Naeth, a restoration ecologist at the University of
Alberta and a panel member. “There’s a high potential for
successful reclamation, and interesting work on the development of
peat lands and bogs.”
class=”MsoNormal”>One of the more significant observations
of the panel was that “the current visibility of relevant
provincial and federal agencies … in dealing with the major
environmental challenges is low and is generally not in line with
the scale of those challenges.”
“There has generally been inadequate overall risk
assessment for technological and natural disasters, assessment of
community health impacts, integrated and cumulative ecological
impact assessment, and assessment of regional socio-economic
impacts,” states the report.
class=”MsoNormal”>It was an observation that Alberta’s
environment minister Rob Renner said was worthy of further study.
The report “raises a number of issues that require attention - some
of which are already being addressed”, he noted.
class=”MsoNormal”>He pointed out that the provincial
government had already taken steps to develop a better
understanding of the cumulative impacts of development over the
region and was updating reclamation criteria, standards and
reporting
class=”MsoNormal”>The 400-page RSC report is the most
comprehensive evaluation of tar-sands science and regulation to
date. It is the first in a series on the environmental and health
impacts of Canada’s oil-sands operations expected to be released
over the next few months.
class=”MsoNormal”>Full details on the
Impacts of Canada’s Oil Sands Industry
target=”_blank”>are available here.
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