Tar sands not just about greenhouse gas emissions
I know the world is focused on Copenhagen, meaning a focus on greenhouse-gas emission reductions, but a study came out today reminding us that the oil sands — Canada’s fastest growing source of CO2 emissions — isn’t just about climate change. The local pollution that results from the mining and processing of bitumen is nearly five times worse than expected, according to David Schindler, co-author of a study published Monday in the U.S.-based Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. And he blamed the Alberta government for having a poor monitoring program, which explains the underestimation. The study’s findings were based on the analysis of toxins in river flow before and after oil sand operations. Researchers also found bitumen particulates covering snow up to 50 kilometres away. The amount of particulates that settle annually equate to a major oil spin happening every year, the study estimated. Not good for soil, water, and the fish and species that must survive in both.
Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.
December 16th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Dear Random Environmentalist,
If you want my attention please do the following: call them the OIL sands. Tar is produced from wood, and has nothing to do with the bitumen produced from the oil sands. When you say ‘Tar Sands’, I know to immediately stop listening, because you have no idea what you are talking about.