South of the polar Northwest Territories’ (NT) barren tundra lies the province of Alberta. The Canadian boreal forest provides expansive acres of natural habitat landscape for an array of plant and animal species. Ecologically, the Albertan forests and bogs arrest vast quantities of carbon-based pollutants, and their extensive hydrological network filters and purify millions of gallons of water. The boreal is also home to Aboriginal Communities which depend directly on the forest resources for their livelihoods (Regional Aquatics Monitoring Program [RAMP]). Nevertheless, this immaculate natural paradise is central to one of the today’s most contentious issues about the ‘dirty’ oil sands energy. As humans deplete the conventional sources of petroleum, the unconventional sources of crude oil such as the bitumen found in tar sands start playing crucial roles in offsetting the declining conventional oil production (Cotter). The Canadian tar sands, a majority of which are in Alberta, are the second largest proven oil reserves in the world second only to the Saudi Arabian Reserves (Regional Aquatics Monitoring Program [RAMP]). There are approximately 175 billion barrels of recoverable bitumen spread across 140,800 Square Kilometers of the province (Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers [CAPP]). As the rate and scale of oil sand development in Alberta increases, concerns about the associated impacts on humans and the environment have grown. This paper examines the effects of tar sands development on the environment of Alberta with a focus on Lake Athabasca.
The reality about the Canadian oil sands is evident when one comes up close to the Athabasca Oil Sands. At Fort McMurray, for instance, lies the pristine beauty of the boreal, but once at the oil sand-central, what remains is a landscape erased – a terrain stretching in a diameter of several hundreds of miles that is not so much adversely impacted as is forcibly stripped bare of life and excavated. Dominating this landscape are giant tar excavation and oil refining plants with their smoke and fire emitting stacks, disorienting broad and deep tar mines, and tailing pits held in check by some of the country’s largest dams. Despite the environmental divisiveness of the activity, the exploitation of oil sands has expanded rapidly in the last decade (Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers [CAPP]). Predictions vary slightly, but as the Global demand for energy is expected to continue growing in the period to 2050, oil sand production in Canada is anticipated to at least quadruple to about five million barrels of refined tar oil per day by 2020 (Carson). Carbon-based sources of energy will continue to play central roles in meeting this global growth in energy demand, and unconventional sources of crude oil (like the oil sands) will become increasingly important (Carson). It is becoming clear that the environmental health risks associated with the oil sands operation in Alberta particularly around the Athabasca region have historically been underestimated. The First Nations Communities who have inhabited these lands for thousands of years have voiced concerns as their waters, fisheries, hunting grounds, and health started to deteriorate (Environmental Defense Canada). More rare kinds of cancers started occurring among the Indigenous people and the general health of the community seriously took a turn for the worse as tar sand production intensified. The production of tar sands further led to a series of social challenges throughout Alberta, from housing crises arising after an involuntary evacuation of the native communities to the vast expansion of foreign worker programs that not only racialize but also exploit the so-called citizens. Perhaps one of the major environmental impacts of tar sands development in Alberta is its effects on Lake Athabasca.
Since the commencement of the oil sands extraction, there have been numerous oil leaks into Lake Athabasca and its watershed, polluting the catchment area with petroleum deposits and tailing pond water (Walsh). Recent studies show that chemicals from the oil sand productions are showing up in increasing amounts in the lake, and the related effects are being felt much farther away their points of sources than previously thought. For example, a 2013 study on the effects of oil-sands development reveals rising levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the lake refuting the long-standing claims that the pollution of the lake's water system is due to natural causes (McDiarmid; Wingrove). PAHs is a toxic carcinogen closely linked to fish mutation, immune disorders, and incidences of human infertility (Wingrove).
Another serious issue is the amount of freshwater consumed by the industry. In 2011, studies showed that the companies mining the oil sands siphoned about 370 million cubic meters of water from the Lake Athabasca drainage system (Struzik). The water was used to generate steam employed in separating the viscous oil (bitumen) from the sand formations. Logic contends that these amounts, which are only poised to increase in the future as the extraction increases, are drying up the Lake and its wetlands, disrupting water flow in the watershed, and potentially threatening all the aquatic and riparian wetlands found in the region. About 3.1 barrels of fresh water goes into producing a barrel of oil from the tar sands. In 2008, the Albertan oil sands produced 1.31 million barrels of oil daily (Struzik). This production capacity is expected to reach 3.1 million barrels a day (bpd) by 2018 further straining the freshwater supply inlets to the lake. In addition to directly withdrawing freshwater from the lake system, tar sands operations divert vast amounts of water from the lake system (Struzik).
With an area of 7,935 km2 and a 2,140 km shoreline, Lake Athabasca is the eighth-largest lake in Canada. It plays unparalleled roles in the life of Alberta and Canada as a whole, and a degradation of it has far reaching consequences (James-Abra). Considering its entire watershed system, from the Rocky Mountains by Athabasca and Peace rivers to the north via the Slave River into the Great Slave Lake, Lake Athabasca supports about 13% of the Aboriginal population (Walsh). There are 15 Aborigine Nations spread in over 40 reserves and whose cultural heritage and livelihood face threats from the increasing industrial oil-sands (James-Abra). Moreover, tailings points continue to leak significant amounts of toxic water into the river systems each day (Environmental Defense Canada). These contaminated waters contain toxicants such as naphthenic acid and trace metals such as mercury, chromium, and arsenic derived from the bitumen in Northern Alberta (McDiarmid).
The effects of the oil-sands on nature are highly controversial partly because of the polarized debate about the ‘natural’ occurrence of petroleum in lakes and waterways. However, studies such as the 2010 David Schindler expose on the adverse effects of tar sands production on local waters and aquatic species reveal otherwise (McDiarmid). Schindler discovered deformed fish in the lake because of the consequences of oil sand production (McDiarmid). Other effects include changes to the Lake Hydrology and aquatic habitats due to modifications of the physical characteristics, water quality, and productive capacity of the lake (RAMP). Adverse changes in these parameters hamper successful feeding, rearing, and migration of aquatic species such as fish. Accidental discharge of waters drained from muskeg and the overburden during mine site preparation to the Lake Athabasca natural system can alter the water quality of the lake. Such inputs (usually rich in the particulate organic matter) can lead to significant changes in the levels of dissolved oxygen levels and ambient aquatic temperature, both of which can have negative impacts on the lake’s biological communities. Lastly, the acidification of Lake Athabasca can have both short-term effects such as the death of sensitive pH organisms and long-term effects like permanent changes to the aquatic pH and eventually the viability and health of the ecosystem.
The tar sands development project is one of the largest industrial undertaking in Canada and perhaps one of the most destructive. It is increasingly being slated to be the cause of the second fastest rate of ecosystem destruction and deforestation on the planet after the Amazon Tropical Rainforest Basin since its conception less than half a century ago. Site preparation includes site clearing of the arboreal forests and the removal of the overburden. Initial steps also include altering natural drainage patterns by draining wetlands and removing streams, and diverting rivers. Because of these and others associated spin-off human and environmental impacts, the extraction, and conversion of tar sands into usable fuel is a hugely expensive endeavor. It is both water and energy intensive that results to stripping giant swaths of natural lands and creating tons of toxic wastes, air, water, and soil pollution. The waters of Lake Athabasca show signs of contamination and evidence as partly highlighted in the paper above include high levels of toxic heavy metals like mercury and arsenic. Other signs of pollution deriving from the development of tar sands are the detection of elevated levels of microbial organisms in water sample tests, increased water turbidity, and changes in the chemical composition of the lake waters. Natural substances that have been detected in the lake in the recent past are excessively high levels of sulfur, phosphorus, iron, and salt among others. The contamination of the lake and its catchment area occurs because the top soil and the above ground vegetative cover have natural filtering capacity that does not exist after they have been removed during site preparation. The underground contamination of the lake can result from several sources. However, the most common in Alberta are oil leaks (spills), mining operations, improper tailing disposal, structural collapse, oil seepage, and waste overflows. In this perspective, this paper has therefore highlighted some of the significant environmental impacts of tar sand development in Alberta with a particular focus on Lake Athabasca.
Works Cited
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