Destruction of Alberta’s

Boreal Forests and Waters

By Tar Sands Developments

D. W. Schindler

Area, thousands km2

Alberta 662

France 505

Sweden 450

Norway 386

Germany 357

UK 249

Oil Sands 140

Greece 131

Tar Sands Extraction- Major

Environmental Issues

• CO2 emissions

• Water removal

Water pollution- PAHs, Mercury, Arsenic, etc. etc

• Lack of reclamation

• Boreal forest destruction

• Biodiversity loss

• Air pollution problems

• Violation of First Nations subsistence space

• Lack of cumulative effects assessment

• Incompetent monitoring

Wooded Fen

Bayley, 2004

Oil Sands-

Scraping Bottom?National Geographic Mar 2009

We need to get the message out….!

Feb-Mar 2008

Samples of snow

taken from 31 sites.

Athabasca River and its

tributaries sampled at 37 sites,

upstream and downstream of

development.

June-Aug 2008

Samples of Atha. R. and its

tributaries at 47 sites.

A study deliberately

designed to test the

contributions of

natural sources of

contaminants vs.

industry

March 2007 Athabasca River looking north (downstream)

• Based on two reports from the 1970’s/early 1980’s, emissions of large amounts of particulates & metals have likely been occurring for about 30 years and perhaps since the late 1960s.

• Contaminants in snow have not been reported since.

MU 3

Snow profile,

Muskeg River,

March 2008

Snow was

sampled at 31

sites, representing

four months of

deposition.

Snow Results

Unimpacted

Site AR1

Impacted

Site AR6, near upgraders.

Note oil on surface of

snow water.Melted Snow

226 km

4 21 6 2 3 20 24 43 26 49 28

1

6

18

12 8

32

38

74 km

38 6

25

23

1110

20

17

12 14 12

8

25

9

14

10 2146

5218

900 mL filtered

@ each site

Fort

McMurrayFort

Chipewyan

SYNCRUDE

MILDRED

LAKE

& SUNCOR

ALBIAN SANDS &

SYNCRUDE AURORA

CNRL

SUNCOR

STEEPBANK/

MILLENNIUM

SHELL

Bitumount

Fort

MacKay

White filters used for filtering melted snow samples. March 2008

Airborne contaminants

were detected within

A 50 km radius of

upgraders at site AR6.

Kelly et al. 2009. Proc.

U.S. Nat. Acad. Sci.

106: 22346-22351.

impacted

background

Total PAH

0 5 10 15 20

AR1

AR2

AR16

AR4

AR6

AR7

AR8

AR15

AR9

AR10

AR18

AR12

Particulate

Dissolved

Athabasca River

Beaver River

BE1 BE2 BE3

0

2

4

6

Ells River

EL1 EL2 EL3

0

2

6

7

Tar River

TR1 TR2 TR3

0

2

6

7

Joslyn Creek

JOC1

0

2

6

7

Steepbank River

ST3 ST2 ST1

0

2

4

6

Muskeg River

MU3 MU2 MU1

0

2

4

6

Firebag River

FR3 FR2 FR1

0

2

6

7

Snowpack on river

March 2008(ppm)

Fort

McMurray

Fort Chipewyan

Fort MacKay

Bitumount

Suncor

Steepbank/

Millennium

Syncrude

Mildred

Lake &

Suncor

Albian

Sands &

Syncrude

Aurora

Shell

CNRL

Fig 8

Total Mercury

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

AR1

AR2

AR16

AR4

AR6

AR7

AR8

AR15

AR9

AR10

AR18

AR12

Athabasca River

Beaver River

BE1 BE2 BE3

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Ells River

EL1 EL2 EL3

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Tar River

TR1 TR2 TR3

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Joslyn Creek

JOC1

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Steepbank River

ST3 ST2 ST1

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Muskeg River

MU3 MU2 MU1

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Firebag River

FR3 FR2 FR1

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Snowpack on river

March 2008(ppt)

Particulate

Dissolved

Fort

McMurray

Fort Chipewyan

Fort MacKay

Bitumount

Suncor

Steepbank/

Millennium

Syncrude

Mildred

Lake &

Suncor

Albian

Sands &

Syncrude

Aurora

Shell

CNRL

Fig 12

Ar

se

nic

Environment Canada’s National Pollutant Release Inventory also

shows high and increasing emissions of many toxic substances.

3X increase in 4 years

NPRI airborne emissions from the oil sands industry

Year

2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010

Me

rcu

ry (

kg

)

0

20

40

60

80

100

Mercury

3X in 7 years

Conclusions

• Our results show that the oil sands industry is adding substantial amounts of contaminants to the Athabasca River

– Both airborne and waterborne pathways contribute.

– Most of the elements on the USEPA’s priority pollutant list were higher within a 50 km radius of upgraders.

• Environment Canada’s NPRI data also show that large quantities of toxins are emitted by the oilsands industry’s

• upgraders.

• OILSANDSGATE: The oilsands industry’s public claims about contaminant release, water use and reclamation are not true.

• The evidence from our study and NPRI indicates that oilsands companies should be charged under the Fisheries Act,

section 36(3), discharge of deleterious substances to fish-bearing waters. (Where is Environment Canada?)

Aquifers?

PAHs?

As?

Hg?

Fragmentation Impacts

Satellite image of in situ oil sands

exploration

Schematic of proportion of forest

impacted with 200m zone of disturbance

Next slide shows simulation of future development footprint based development

of existing leases

“Boreal caribou will not persist for more than two to

four decades without immediate and aggressive

management intervention…Tough choices need to be

made between the management imperative to recover

boreal caribou and plans for ongoing bitumen

development and industrial land-use."

-panel of academic, government and industry

ecologists, February 2010

Courtesy: Wayne Lynch

Wolverine

Marten

Fisher

Coyote

cpaws