The Death of the Boreal Forest in Northern Alberta

In April, 2008 a flock of 500 ducks landed on Syncrude Oil's Aurora tailings pond near Fort McMurray, Alberta. Nearly all the ducks became coated in oil and sank to the bottom of the poisonous sludge. Syncrude's excuse was that they were unable to use their scare cannons at the tailings pond due to a late spring snowstorm. Both the federal and the provincial governments threatened fines of up to $1 million against the oil company, but nine months later, no action had been taken.

On January 7, 2009, Jeh Custer, a representative of the Sierra Club, Canada, and an Alberta citizen, took both the federal government and the Alberta government to court on the grounds that neither jurisdiction has followed their own environmental laws. His case rests on the Federal Migratory Birds Convention Act which forbids the deposit of a toxic or dangerous substance in an area used by migratory birds.

Mr. Custer is represented by Ecojustice, and is supported by Sierra Club Canada and Forest Ethics. In a press release dated January 7^th, Gillian McEachern of Forest Ethics stated that "The federal government has been ducking its responsibility to ensure the environment and human health are protected in the Tar Sands region. If Canada won't step up and enforce its own laws, we will."

Ecojustice lawyer Barry Robinson, in the same press release, said: "It is important that environmental infractions are prosecuted in a timely manner in order to protect both humans and wildlife from prohibited activities. We hope that private prosecution sends a message that the needless death of 500 ducks is unacceptable."

Alberta Environment spokesperson Ogho Ikhalo, in a January 7^thEdmonton Journal report by Hanneke Brooymans, seems to feel that the lapse of time between the disaster at the Aurora tailings pond and the present is not of prime importance. She said that: "We don't want to act quickly on this just because everyone wants a decision. We want to make sure we have all the pieces in place." It is true that, legally, Alberta Environment has two years to complete its investigation and lay charges against Syncrude, but why wait? Syncrude did not take proper precautions and the ducks died. How much investigation is needed?

There is also the broader question of public health and environmental safety in northern Alberta. In a report written by Christopher Hatch and Matt Price of Environmental Defence in February, 2008, and entitled Canada's Toxic Tar Sands The Most Destructive Project on Earth, the authors claim that the oil sands in northern Alberta have created "what amounts to a slow motion oil spill" in the province's lakes and rivers. Experts consulted by Hatch and Price feel that pollution from these tar pits is greater than the oil spill created by the Exxon Valdez . Fish and game downstream have been found with bulging eyes, tumours, and other mutations. Ray Ladouceur, a spokesperson for the First Nations People who live in the area, told researcher K. Timoney: "There's [sic] deformed pickerel in Lake Athabasca...Pushed in faces, bulging eyes, humped back, crooked tails...never used to see that. Great big lumps on them...you poke that, it sprays water...." Apparently, when fish are pan-fried, they "smell like burning plastic."

Other information is also coming to light. In a 2005 study by Suncor mentioned in Hatch and Price's paper, scientists found that the concentration of arsenic in the area's moose meat could be as high as 453 times the acceptable levels. The Alberta government, in response, stated that arsenic levels were "only 17 to 33 times" the acceptable levels.

Hatch and Price's report also mentions a 2007 paper by K. Timoney, A Study of Water and Sediment Quality as Related to Public Health Issues Fort Chipewayan, Alberta, a community downstream from the Tar Sands. This study, done for the Nunce Health Board Society, brought up the issue of the rising incidence of serious cancer in the town of Fort Chipewayan. In addition, the study found defects in the monitoring programs used by the oil industry and raised questions about the increasing levels of mercury, arsenic, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or (PAHs), in the food and water. The water that is causing these problems pours into the huge Peace-Athabasca delta, which in turn, flows into the Mackenzie delta system and the Arctic Ocean.

Until recently, however, the provincial government had left the monitoring and handling of the tailings ponds to industry. Only after the death of the 500 ducks, the public outcry, and numerous reports from a joint federal-provincial review panel that effluent from the tailings ponds was, indeed, leaking into the ecosystems, did the Energy Resources Conservation Board lay down enforceable guidelines and performance measurements that industry must follow in the management of the tailings ponds. There will still be poisonous ponds, however, and no commitment has been made by anyone to actually develop new technologies to deal with the massive problem.

As a footnote, it is interesting that Alberta Energy Minister Mel Knight stated in a February 4^th article by Darcy Henton of the Edmonton Journal "Tailings Ponds to Green Up," that the new rulings on tailings ponds are designed to show everyone that the government is committed to cleaning up the oil sands developments. The regulations require oil companies to reduce fine particles in liquid tailings by 50% over the next four years, provide compliance reports, and continue reductions up to 2013. Is it because Barack Obama is coming to Canada?