Edmonton researchers lead study into environmental impact of oilsands
A study released Monday shows that the oilsands industry increases the concentrations of dangerous metals, such as mercury, in locations downstream of development.
Photograph by: Bruce Edwards, edmontonjournal.com
EDMONTON — A study released Monday shows that the oilsands industry increases the concentrations of dangerous metals, such as mercury, in locations downstream of development.
National or provincial guidelines for the protection of aquatic life were exceeded for seven of these metals: cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, nickel, silver, and zinc — in melted snow and/or water, says the research, published in the prestigious scientific journal called the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The research was led by Erin Kelly and David Schindler, two ecologists at the University of Alberta. Other scientists from Queen’s University in Kingston and from Alaska also contributed.
Schindler said he did the study partly because of unfavourable reviews of the organization doing monitoring for the government. This data are what the government points to when it says industry is not having any significant impacts on the river. Meanwhile, the companies are releasing hundreds of kilograms of these metals, he said. “Those two things just don’t fit together. The amount they’re releasing should be easily detectable.” Decades of experience in researching watersheds also told him that the presented facts did not mesh. “You cannot strip huge watersheds — in some cases they’re actually digging up whole tributaries — without anything getting into the river. I’ve been looking at the literature on this stuff for 40 years. It just doesn’t happen.”
In all, the researchers found that industry releases 13 elements considered priority pollutants under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Water Act, via air and water, to the Athabasca River and its watershed. The scientists also looked at the 2008 snowpack and found that all these pollutants, except selenium, were greater near oilsands developments than at more remote sites. Bitumen upgraders and local oilsands development were sources of airborne emissions.
Schindler said he is most concerned about three metals: mercury, arsenic, and lead. “Mercury has been high in fish for a long time and our study shows there is considerably more mercury going in then there was naturally. There have been two studies in recent years that have shown that if you change the input of mercury fish respond very quickly. So it’s likely that they’re making already contaminated fish even more contaminated.”
The difference in concentration became more pronounced the more the area was disturbed by development. So concentrations of mercury, nickel, and thallium in winter and all 13 priority pollutants in summer were greater in tributaries with watersheds more disturbed by development than in less disturbed watersheds, the study says.
At sites downstream of development and within the Athabasca Delta, concentrations of all priority pollutants, except beryllium and selenium, remained greater than upstream of development. Concentrations of some priority pollutants at one location in Lake Athabasca near Fort Chipewyan were also greater than concentrations in the Athabasca River upstream of development.
“I think the main thing that the study shows is we have no reliable monitoring on that river system,” Schindler said. “The people who should be concerned are Environment Canada because our data show clearly that there are deleterious substances getting into the river. The Fisheries Act says there shall be no releases of that sort. It doesn’t specify amounts or concentrations. It’s a total ban. Environment Canada is supposed to enforce that subsection of the Fisheries Act.”
Environment Canada Minister Jim Prentice was not available for an interview, but his press secretary forwarded comments he’d made in a letter to the editor written Monday. Prentice said the federal government is committed to tracking chemicals using a new chemical fingerprinting program that uses state-of-the-art analytical equipment to identify whether chemicals produced in the oilsands operations are seeping into the surrounding environment. “This equipment and research support will allow scientists to identify unique chemical compounds produced during oilsands processing that can be used as ‘fingerprints’ in the ecosystem,” he wrote. He did not address the issue of the Fisheries Act that Schindler raised.
This is the second part of a larger study being conducted by Schindler and colleagues. The first results were released last December. They showed that a class of chemicals called polycyclic aromatic compounds, some of which are known carcinogens, were being released into the air on airborne particles from plant stacks and dusty mine sites and through run-off from developed sites. Heavy metals are being released in the same way.
The provincial government has disputed that industry is adding significantly to the load of heavy metals. Previously the government has said that the river naturally contains a lot of heavy metals, and studies show that virtually every metal increases steadily in concentration as you proceed downstream from the foothills through Alberta.
But Schindler said they deliberately tested that and found it not to be the case at all. “We found that they were highest right around industrial development and as you move down river beyond that they actually tail off, not to zero or to background, but they probably tail off to a value that does reflect some natural input. But if you put it altogether the big inputs are clearly industry.”
Alberta Environment shied away from contradicting the results this time around, saying they hadn’t been able to access all the data from Monday’s study yet. “Without the data it’s difficult for us to say anything responsibly about whether the amounts are correct,” said Kim Westcott, a senior surface water policy specialist. “I think we can say that we are aware there are industrial sources of contaminants to the river and this work is an attempt to quantify those sources and that’s a contribution to the knowledge base and it’s definitely welcome.”
Caroline Bampfylde, an ecosystem and risk assessment modeller, said the ministry started its own three-year study on contaminants in the Athabasca River and the tributaries in the oilsands area in March 2009. They will seek publication of the results in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. They will also compare them to Schindler’s results. Bampfylde said the data will be released as it becomes available, rather than waiting until the end of the three years. The first set of data on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons will be ready by the end of the year.
The ministry is also evaluating whether or not it needs to increase its level of monitoring.
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