Tar sands toxic deeds go unpunished
2013 2013-09Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 11 →
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SOCIALIST ACTION SEPTEMBER 2013 11 Less than 1 per cent of the environ mental violations arising out of Alber ta’s tar sands have been penalized. So says a survey by Kevin Timoney, a bi ologist and environmental consultant, and Peter Lee of Global Forest Watch.
The authors of the 677-page report found the same problems recurring again and again, suggesting that the province’s claims that it has strict control over the industry’s environ mental impact are false.
“What we’re seeing is the tip of the iceberg,” said Timoney, who filed a massive number of Freedom of Infor mation applications, starting in 2008, in order to see details of breaches of environmental regulations and condi tions that were kept under wraps in Alberta Environment’s data library in Edmonton.
Timoney and Lee eventually com piled a list of 9262 infractions since 1996—ranging from spills into the Athabasca River, to excessive smoke stack emissions, to the discovery of random waste dumps in the bush.
Nearly two-thirds of the violations were of air quality, usually involving emissions of gases like suphur diox ide and hydrogen sulphide in excess of the hourly limits on the tar sands facilities.
Of the total number of incidents, about 4000 were reported as “alleged contraventions”—a breach in a facil ity’s license conditions. Since 1996, the Alberta government took action in 37 of those cases for an enforcement rate of 0.9 per cent. The median fine was $4500.
Call it the cost of doing this dirty, but highly profitable business.
— B.W.
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SOCIALIST ACTION