Ottawa and Alberta are hoping a new monitoring plan will curb criticism that the province’s massive oilsands fields are a dirty source of energy, but environmentalists say it will take a lot more to clean up Canada’s reputation.
“It can help send a signal that the government is starting to pay attention to the issues, but it doesn’t actually fix the problems that are causing the black eye to our reputation,” said Gillian McEachern, a Climate and Energy expert at Environmental Defence.
The long-awaited, $50-million plan was unveiled by federal Environment Minister Peter Kent and his provincial counterpart Diana McQueen in Edmonton on Friday, two years after two government-commissioned panels started studying the issue.
The news comes after critics, both at home and abroad, alleged that Canada’s oilsands are a dirty source of oil and that neither government has a handle on how the booming industry impacts the environment and the health of surrounding communities.
“One of the more significant challenges is the ability to demonstrate to Albertans and to Canadians and quite frankly to the world that this critical global resource is being developed responsibly,” said McQueen. “Today we are committing to a huge step forward in this regard.”
The European Union plans to discriminate against oilsands as a highly-polluting fuel source, while the American environmental movement successfully staged massive rallies trying to prevent the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry crude from the oilsands, from being built.
Kent, for his part, said the new plan would be a defense against the “outrageous criticisms,” “myths,” and “financially-damaging mischaracterization” of the oilsands.
The new plan, developed in consultation with over 100 scientists and to be rolled out over three years, will mean the governments will be monitoring more frequently and for more contaminants.
Get breaking National news
Air quality, water quality and quantity, wildlife and biodiversity will be under scrutiny under the new plan, which replaces an ad-hoc system led by the industry. Results will be made public at regular intervals.
McEachern said that despite the new system controversy, Canada’s oil sands will continue to build until the government puts limits on the industry.
“It really doesn’t get to the root cause of the problem, which is we have an industry that is excessively dirty, it’s polluting water, it’s fueling climate change and it’s growing quite rapidly,” she said.
The oilsands are poised for explosive growth with five surface mining projects in operation – one under construction and four others in the proposal stage.
While praising the plan for its comprehensive nature and science-based foundation, Jennifer Grant of the Pembina Institute said it was something that should have been done 40 years ago.
Its success in the eyes of Canadians and the world, she added, will depend on how the data is used.
Grant likened it to installing a smoke detector in an area with no fire department.
“The alarm might go off, but the house will still burn down,” she said.
Both Kent and McQueen repeatedly said Friday the data will be used to adjust, adapt and correct plans to develop the natural resource.
It’s not just the environmental movement that has been wary about oilsands development.
Mikisew Cree First Nation, whose traditional lands range over much of the Athabasca oilsands, has witnessed declining water levels, mercury-contamination in water sources and skyrocketing rates of cancer.
“They don’t have a lot of answer provided to them as to where this is coming from. The environment they see is deteriorating because of (oilsands) development,” said Melody Lepine, the community’s director of government and industry relations.
Lepine said knowing someone is studying the issues will help people sleep better at night, but would have liked to have seen a clear role for First Nations playing a part in monitoring.
“If they only had respected and acknowledged our traditional knowledge very early and had us develop the plan with them, I think we would be further ahead today,” she said.
Two of the scientists who helped devise the new plan were more positive about its ability to restore Canada’s tarnished reputation.
One of Canada’s top oilsands scientists, David Schindler said he expects the monitoring to find the industry is polluting the environment, even if it is at a low rate.
“What it will do is stop the flat denial that this industry is adding any pollutant to anything,” he said, adding that that alone will go a long way to rebuilding trust at home and abroad.
“I think that admission and then some rapid action to try and remedy some of the problems will go a lot further than continous reliance on propaganda,” he said.
One remaining obstacle to credibility is the fact that the monitoring will be done by government, instead of an independent panel, according to Schindler.
John Smol, one of the scientists who advised the federal government on monitoring, agreed.
“You’ve got two government agencies trying to administer it, both of which have had some credibility issues in the environmental world,” he said.
Overall, Smol said the government has put together a much-improved, science-based plan monitoring model.
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.