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Canada releases tar sands monitoring plan

oil sands monitoring.jpgThe Canadian government has released a comprehensive plan for monitoring the environmental effects of the tar sands, including impacts on water, air, and biodiversity.

“It is thorough, but very complex and costly,” wrote ecologist David Schindler of the University of Alberta, Edmonton, in an email to Nature. Schindler, who has researched environmental impacts of the mining operation and was a reviewer for the new plan, says has concerns about whether the effort, estimated to cost $50 million per year, will ever come into full effect. “Both provincial and federal budgets for their environment departments have been cut, which will make it impossible for a world class monitoring program to result,” he says.


The plan comes after a series of complaints, assessments and promises from both the province of Alberta, where the oil-laden sands are mined, and the federal government. Concerns have long been raised about the energy required to mine this vast deposit (Canada is one of the top five nations in terms of size of proven oil reserves) and the impacts on ground-cover and water. Schindler has thrown a spotlight on some of these issues (see Tar sands mining linked to stream pollution, and River metals linked to tar sand extraction) and has been vocal about heavy industry influence in the monitoring process and the need for policy changes (see Tar sands need solid science). In December 2010, the government promised to fix the situation (see blog post); this current report is the result of that promise. Meanwhile an Albertan report earlier this month called for provincial action (see Reuters article), and the province is expected to soon release its own plan (which has been heavily criticized already on the back of preliminary drafts, see this ‘Solve climate news’ article).

The federal plan spells out exactly what should be monitored, when, and how often – including continuous measures of a handful of gas emissions and particulate matter, and spot sampling of fish, birds and mammals. Canada’s environment minister reportedly said that industry is “quite prepared to cover” the cost of the programme, but the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers countered that this hasn’t been settled yet (see Globe and Mail article).

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