[R-G] Impacts of tar sands under scrutiny

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.mcgilldaily.com/view.php?aid=6711

Impacts of tar sands under scrutiny
By Sara Constantineau
News Writer

The Dominion editor Dru Oja Jay said Alberta’s tar sands will interfe  
with Canada’s ability to reach Kyoto targets.

Stephen Davis / The McGill Daily
An independent publication is trying to shock the public into  
understanding the social, environmental, and economic impacts of the  
Alberta tar sands.

The Dominion, an independent news cooperative, has launched a special  
issue about the tar sands with presentations at universities across  
Canada. The lead editors of the issue were at Concordia on Thursday  
night presenting their research and exclusive footage.

The tar sands are oil reserves located in Northern Alberta that cover  
approximately 141,000 square kilometres, an area roughly the size of  
New York State. It is now the second largest source of oil in the  
world, behind Saudi Arabia.

It requires massive amounts of energy, water, and human labour to  
separate the oil from the sand and to process it for use. Where the  
tar sands are relatively close to the earth’s surface, trees are  
cleared and the top layers of earth are completely removed, turning  
forests into uninhabitable, sandy wastelands.

Dru Oja Jay, an editor of The Dominion, pointed to Alberta’s weak  
environmental laws.

“[The oil companies] are obligated to clean up to the extent that the  
government of Alberta says they should,” said Jay. “Even according to  
their standards, no land had been reclaimed.”

Canada is legally committed to the Kyoto protocol, which mandates  
that it lower its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 6 per cent below  
1990 levels by 2012. According to a study by the Pembina Institute,  
extraction from tar sands produce three times the amount of GHG  
emissions compared to normal oil extraction, and this will grow as  
the project continues – which compromises Canada’s ability to reach  
its Kyoto target.

“Canada wouldn’t exactly be on track in its emissions deadline, but  
the tar sands are certainly making that quite a bit more difficult,”  
Jay said.

Social effects of the tar sands are also a concern, as the speed of  
its development creates a need for labour that is often filled by  
temporary workers from China, the Philippines, and Central America,  
who have limited rights because they lack immigrant status.

“Nobody knows how much the foreign workers are being paid,” Jay said.  
“They don’t have any rights as immigrants. They are here to work and  
then leave and go back to their countries.”

First Nations people in the area have also seen their treaty rights  
violated. The proposed Mackenzie Gas Project (MGP) pipeline would  
cross over lands traditionally owned and used by the Dene. The Deh  
Cho Dene, across whose land some 40 per cent of the MGP pipeline will  
run, refuse to surrender their aboriginal title.

As well, indigenous bands in the immediate vicinity and downstream of  
the tar sands have seen their rivers polluted and have suffered  
adverse health effects.

“It’s a matter of life and death for them,” Jay said. “If it  
continues without [consulting the First Nations], then...it’s going  
to end a whole way of life and force people to leave a place where  
they’ve lived for thousands and thousands of years.”

The Dominion’s editors are hoping to educate the public about the  
concerns surrounding the tar sands.

“It really comes down to what power actually is and how you can  
mobilize it,” Jay said. “[The tar sands are] not going to slow down  
or stop if nobody knows what’s going on, we can guarantee that.”