CBC reports, “New federal research confirms that Alberta’s oilsands are polluting ground water and seeping into the Athabasca River. …Previous studies using models have estimated the leakage at 6.5 million litres a day from a single pond. …The Pembina Institute, an environmental research group, has long said the ponds leak. But analyst Erin Flanagan said the new research shows even Pembina underestimated how much.”
Council of Canadians energy campaigner Andrea Harden-Donahue says, “While the study confirms what we already know to a certain extent it’s sad to see the federal government so far behind. (For years, First Nations communities have been) linking it to illnesses, talking about deformed fish, how it’s entering their food system, and for years they have been calling for the problem to be examined. (While) it’s an uphill battle (with the Harper government repealing environmental protections), we’re going to win.”
The new study doesn’t quantify amounts, but the Globe and Mail explains, “The soil around the developments contains many chemicals from naturally occurring bitumen deposits, and scientists have never able to separate them from contaminants released by industry. The current Environment Canada study … used new technology to discover that the mix of chemicals is slightly different between the two sources. ‘Differentiation of natural from (tailings water) sources was apparent’, says the study.”
“The scientists took 20 groundwater samples from areas at least one kilometre upstream and downstream from development. They took another seven samples from within 200 metres of two of the tailings ponds. …’Analyses all demonstrate a close similarity between these two (near) samples and (tailings water), as opposed to the natural far-field groundwater’, the report says. ‘The resemblance … implies a common source.'”
A June 2013 Pembina Institute study notes, “Last year, the oilsands industry produced 1.9 million barrels of bitumen each day. A decade from now, total bitumen production is projected to reach 3.8 million barrels per day… In 2010, the total volume of mature fine tailings in northeastern Alberta was 830 million cubic metres. …But regulators have already approved 2.4 million barrels per day of oilsands mining, and each barrel of bitumen produced from mining results in the production of about 1.5 barrels of mature fine tailings. Accordingly, approved minable production would produce 1.4 billion barrels of mature fine tailings…”
To address the unsustainable expansion of the tar sands and its toxic tailings ponds the Council of Canadians is focusing on stopping pipelines like Energy East, Northern Gateway, and Keystone XL. Using the Pembina Institute’s equation noted above, the Energy East pipeline, at a projected 1.1 million barrels per day, could represent the production of about 1.65 million barrels per day of mature fine tailings which in turn threaten groundwater and the Athabasca River.
For more on our upcoming April 7-16 tour to stop the Energy East pipeline with Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow and Eriel Deranger of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, please click here.
