Representatives of First Nations and Environmental Defense Canada denounce the Trudeau government’s desire to develop regulations that would allow the oil sands industry to discharge wastewater from oil production into the environment once it has This would have undergone a treatment that remains to be determined.
Canada may present itself as a leader in biodiversity protection and reconciliation with First Nations, but it is preparing to make serious mistakes on both fronts, environmentalists and Indigenous peoples argued Thursday at the UN conference on biodiversity (COP15).
In concrete terms, the federal government is currently developing regulations that would allow the oil industry to solve a problem that has been growing day by day for decades: settling ponds for water from sand processing bituminous at the time of their exploitation on Alberta soil.
These numerous basins, which represent real lakes containing water laden with heavy metals, acid residues and other toxic compounds, cover an area of nearly 300 km2including areas associated with basins, and a volume of 1.4 trillion liters, according to Environmental Defense.
Discharge in rivers
The industry, which still plans to produce oil from the oil sands for several years, is therefore seeking to get rid of the liquids accumulated over time. The option favored by the companies and by the federal government would be to treat this water before discharging it into the Athabaska River and other waterways. This, however, involves developing regulations that allow for waivers of the Fisheries Act, which currently prohibits the discharge of these waters, due to the risk to fish habitat.
For Melody Lepine, head of government and industry relations for the Mikisew Cree First Nation, this project represents an unacceptable additional risk on top of those already represented by the omnipresence of the oil industry in Alberta. “We are working with Canada on the regulations, but this has been presented to us as the only viable option. What are the other options? There must be more than one,” she argued Thursday.
“We are concerned about the growth of the ponds, we want them removed, but not at the cost of the impacts on waterways, our health and the environment. The industry is pushing this as the only option,” she added. According to Ms. Lepine, the risk is clear: “It will have an impact on our culture and our way of life. However, there are no studies on the impacts for health, but also for our culture and our way of life. We cannot approve of such a project. »
Responsible for the climate and energy program for Environmental Defence, Aliénor Rougeot fears that these regulations will also be a way to facilitate the exploitation of the oil sands for several more years. “Regulations do not guarantee that once the water is released, industry will not add more water to the same ponds that continue to contaminate soil and groundwater, in addition to releasing toxic compounds into the atmosphere. We could therefore continue to pollute the environment of the First Nations to allow the industry to continue producing oil,” she explains.
Biodiversity
Paul Bélanger, responsible for scientific issues for the organization “Keepers of the Water”, recalls that the oil sands industry already represents significant risks for the environment and human health in the regions affected by exploitation in Alberta.
“We already see fish with tumors and similar problems with moose,” he argues, adding that thousands of birds have died after choosing to land in settling ponds, which they confuse with natural lakes.
According to him, it is also obvious that the discharge of water from the basins cannot be done in a safe manner, especially since there is currently no proof that the water thus discharged does not represent a risk for the environment and human health.
Climate impacts
In addition to the feared impacts for waterways, biodiversity and First Nations, the oil sands weigh heavily in Canada’s climate balance sheet. Between 1990 and 2020, crude oil production more than doubled in Canada. This increase is mainly attributable to a rapid increase in oil production from the oil sands, “which is much more intensive in greenhouse gases than production from conventional sources”, according to federal government data.
During this period, emissions from oil sands operations have increased by 437%. In 2020, the industry emitted over 80 million tonnes of greenhouse gases, equivalent to the emissions of 32 million cars.
According to a study published in 2021 by researchers at University College London, Canada would have to leave no less than 84% of its oil sands resources underground to help meet the Paris Agreement target. on the climate, i.e. limit global warming to 1.5°C.
Oil production in Alberta reached 3.6 million barrels per day between January and June 2022, according to available data. The oil sands account for 85% of this production.
More details to come.