Health concerns rise over oil sands pollution

First Nations communities in Alberta are resounding the calls made by environmental organizations and others for the federal government to pay more attention to the suspected health and environmental effects of oil sands development, and to ensure the industry is made as clean as possible.
On Feb. 15, the group Environmental Defence released a report entitled "Canada's Toxic Tar Sands: The Most Destructive Project on Earth". At a press conference in Ottawa, representatives from First Nations downriver of oil sands development in Alberta expressed their concerns. Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation and Councillor Willis Flett, Mikisew Cree First Nation, wanted their voices heard.
"We've seen a drastic change in water contamination going down the Athabasca River, which has a direct impact on our reserve," said Adam, whose community is located approximately 280 kilometres northeast and downriver of Fort McMurray. "Seventy-eight per cent of our community still relies on traditional foods. Every animal survives off the river, and we still live off those animals."
"We've seen severe health concerns coming within our community," Flett added. "We've had high rates of various forms of cancer. We've had lupus, which is a blood disorder, and other various health concerns within our region. At the present time, we don't have any evidence that it is due to the tar sands. But we do live downstream from the tar sands, and we've seen the higher rates within the last say 10 years."
"There are two known cases of bile duct cancer," Adam added. "That's a rare cancer, one in 100,000. There are possibly four others, but the others cannot be recorded because the people have passed on. If there are six in a community of 1,200 people something's got to be going on. Everyone is pointing to the water."
Environmental Defence's press release notes, "The community of Fort Chipewyan made headlines last year when Health Canada launched a complaint against the town doctor for speaking out about abnormal disease rates in the community."
Deformities in fish and high concentrations of toxic substances in animals have also been identified.
Some published reports claimed fish from the area have smelled like burning plastic while being fried. While there isn't a clear link to the tar sands, Matt Price of Environmental Defence says the connection makes common sense.
"The tailings ponds, these giant ponds that can be seen from space they're so big, everyone knows they're leaking into the groundwater," Price said. "No one knows what happens after that. Hydrologists will tell you that it's all connected. So the strong suspicion is this ends up back in the Athabasca, and then it flows downriver, and then builds up over time in the sediments."
Key findings of the Environmental Defence report include the projected doubling of greenhouse gas emissions from oil sands development to double by 2020, claims of seepage from toxic tailings ponds into groundwater and suspicion that oil sands pollution is causing acid raid in Saskatchewan and beyond.
"It can get better," said Price. "We've focused on some fixes; we haven't come out and said shut it down. Now is the time to force some of this technology to be implemented before things get a whole lot worse.
"The big part of this is there's a five-fold expansion in the cards," he continued. "Now we're actually talking about dramatically scaling this whole thing up in a very short time frame. We actually haven't got it right yet in terms of the regulatory oversight. So given the current trajectory, it's just a disaster."
There are some technological solutions already available, but they tend to be too expensive for companies to embrace on their own, according to Price.
"Industry doesn't basically voluntarily do these things, because they say, 'Well, our shareholders aren't going to like us for voluntarily incurring however many cents per barrel when our competitors aren't doing it.' So you need government to step in and say everyone needs to do it and level the playing field," Price said.
Price thinks the government has means to step in. Currently, under the federal fisheries act, it is against the law to discard toxins in a river.
Environmental Defence thinks this law should be used in connection with the suspected groundwater seeping from tailings and oily sands blowing into rivers.
The Environmental Protection Act also gives some discretionary powers to government, but they need to choose to use them.
"We recommend that the federal government actually enforce its own laws," Price said.
"We want everybody to know that we are feeling the effects of the tar sands, both socio-economically and culturally," Flett added. "We want to find out what's out there."
What's been revealed so far is reason for concern, and it's very alarming to the people, Flett said.
"We're not asking industry to stop, we're asking them to slow down to let us catch up. And after we have conducted our studies, then it will be back up to the community to decide on which actions we go with."
On Feb. 25 in Calgary, chiefs representing the Treaties 6, 7 and 8 nations of Alberta - including Chief Adam - met and passed a resolution, unanimously, to support the calls for no new oil sands approvals until Treaty First Nations have approved a comprehensive watershed management plan and resource development plan for the region.
"Evidence is there that there's grounds for legal action," Adam had stated in an interview just days previous. "If people want to take it. It all depends on what the people want to do. We're elected officials and we represent the people. Whatever happens, it's people-driven."
Although they may seem to be worlds apart in position, the industry and Environmental Defence may have some things in common, according to Greg Stringham, vice president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP). Both agree that technological advances must continue and both think the public should be better informed by an independent and trusted body about oil sands development.

"I don't agree with the Environmental Defence report that nothing's being done right now and they need to start doing it," Stringham said. "I could agree that, yes, there has been some things done and it needs to be continued or maybe augmented until that confidence is gained, but it's not like they're starting from ground zero.
"We as an industry recognize that more needs to be communicated," Stringham continued. "Lots is being done already, but we are in complete agreement that more needs to be done to try and make sure that people have access to the info - again, independently so they can make their on own assessment of what's going up there. Because the last thing we want to do is be able to have a perception or a reality that there's anything going on in the area that might be damaging to human health."
Companies need to do a good job of developing relationships with First Nations communities near oil sands development, especially as work goes on in the area for upward of 40 years, Stringham said.
Chief Jim Boucher of the Fort McKay First Nation in Alberta didn't return calls for comment on the benefits his community has seen, but Fort McKay communications director Jeff Winsor explained the community has a group of eight companies that provide service to the oil sands industry, as well as several joint ventures.
Fort McKay was about to become the first First Nation to venture into oil sands development, but made the news in mid-February when the deal with Shell Canada was cancelled before production began. Winsor explained the two simply couldn't come to a business model that worked, and the First Nation is open to ideas to develop its oil sand resources and will do whatever is in the best interest of its members.