Alberta Oilsands Releasing Heavy Metals At Levels Toxic To Fish

[Jayhad]

A little research to check out

 

Study shows Alberta oilsands releasing heavy metals at levels toxic to fish

at 13:07 on August 30, 2010, EDT.

Bob Weber, The Canadian Press

 

EDMONTON - A new study shows that heavy metals including lead and mercury which are being released from oilsands facilities into the air and water of northern Alberta are already above levels considered hazardous to fish.

 

The study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, takes aim at the province's environmental monitoring and dismisses government claims that the contaminants come from natural sources.

 

"Contrary to claims made by industry and government in the popular press, the oilsands industry substantially increases the loadings of toxic (priority pollutants) into the Athabasca River and its tributaries via air and water pathways," concludes the report.

 

In the summer of 2008, Schindler's team set up monitoring stations on the Athabasca and several of its tributaries. Some stations were upstream of both the oilsands and its facilities. Others were in the middle of the bitumen deposits but upstream of industry, and the rest were downstream of both.

 

The team found that petrochemical concentrations did not increase until the streams flowed past oilsands facilities, especially when they flowed past new construction.

 

"As soon as there was over 25 per cent watershed disturbance we had big increases in all of the contaminants that we measured — just stripping of the soil and trees in preparation for mining or building," said Schindler.

 

The contaminants were also being emitted from ongoing operations, the research found.

 

Schindler found metal levels increased in spring, as would be expected if a winter's worth of deposition on snow and ice were being flushed downstream during the melting season.

 

The metals involved include not only lead and mercury — both neurotoxins — but also cadmium, copper, nickel, silver and seven other metals considered priority pollutants by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

 

Levels of the metals remain below human health thresholds. But concentrations at some test sites at some times of the year are already greater than those set by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment to protect marine ecosystems — sometimes much greater.

 

Cadmium levels ranged between 30 and 200 times over the guideline. Silver levels were 13 times higher than recommended at one site, and copper, lead, mercury, nickel and zinc were five times the suggested limit.

 

Those toxins are being passed along to animals eaten as food, said Schindler.

 

"Any animal that browses in the area is going to be taking in higher levels of the same contaminants," he said. "There have been concerns expressed already about mercury."

 

The Alberta government has said in the past that contaminants increase near oilsands mines because that's where deposits are most concentrated. It contends the higher metal levels are the result of the Athabasca eroding natural outcrops of bitumen.

 

Schindler pours scorn on that theory.

 

"I don't think there's any way to refute this," he said, referring to his study. "There should be very little trust in propaganda put out by the Alberta government."

 

He pointed out that his paper is peer-reviewed research. The government Regional Aquatic Monitoring Program, intended to keep track of what's happening in the Athabasca, was harshly criticized after a 2004 review and is in the process of undergoing another.

 

"It's almost as if they've taken the textbook in how to develop a long-term monitoring program and violated every rule," Schindler said. "They've changed their sites, they've changed their time of sampling, they changed their sampling methods, and on and on."

 

As well, Schindler said the government relies on industry for much of its data. That information is considered proprietary and is not made public.

 

Schindler said it's time the federal government stepped in to protect the river, which is it has the power to do under legislation.

 

"Environment Canada has devoted less time and money to monitoring in the Athabasca," he said. "They delegated it to the province, which they shouldn't have been doing, and the province in turn delegated all the monitoring to industry itself."

 

The study is the latest to take aim at environmental monitoring in the oilsands region.

 

Schindler released a paper last December based on the same research that showed pollution is nearly five times greater and twice as widespread as industry figures say.

 

Other studies suggest that greenhouse gas emissions from the oilsands are being underestimated by nearly a quarter. One paper blamed increased soil acidification on the industry.

 

U.S. researchers have said oilsands mines, roads and other facilities in the area are destroying so much bird habitat that as many as 166 million fewer songbirds could be flying North American skies within 50 years.