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The oil companies involved and the Canadian and Albertan Governments are keen to see the Albertan tar sands operation expand considerably over the coming decades, with output predicted to increase by as much as four times current levels by 2020[23]. This will mean more forest levelled, more water lost from the Athabasca river, more toxic mess leaked into the environment, and many more greenhouse gas emissions. Some companies excuse this by touting deep-mining technologies and carbon capture and storage, which the Alberta Government claims are cleaner with a smaller footprint on the land[5]. However carbon-capture and storage is up to a decade away from even being tested on a commercial scale[24] and deep mining has a huge energy requirement. The reality is that these methods are far from being developed into genuine solutions: there is no sustainable way of mining the tar sands.
Whose responsibility?
Evidence for the climate crime case!
Companies taking part in Canada’s oil rush include several of the worlds biggest oil corporations (Shell, Total, Exxon, Sinopec and Statoil Hydro) as well as a number of Canadian operators (Suncor, Syncrude, Nexen, CNRL, NAOSC). In 2008, under heavy criticism from major share holders and environmental groups, BP renounced its previous ‘ethical stance’ on the resource by announcing a move to invest heavily in the tar sands[22].
The scale of the environmental crimes committed by these companies is only matched by the level of disinterest of the Albertan and Canadian Governments in mitigating or even monitoring the situation fully. The National Administration has deferred responsibility of managing the tar sands to the Provincial Government, who have in turn left environmental monitoring and assessment to the industry itself. These companies, whilst committing horrific environmental damage, are being left to police themselves. Unsurprisingly this arrangement has received strong criticism from scientists studying the region, who have highlighted the unevenness in method and coverage of the monitoring[3]. For example, one report by tar sands company Syncrude concluded that ground water leakages were “relatively benign” after describing leakages as “measurable” and “acutely toxic to many biota”[10].
Where Government regulation does exist it permits a growth, not a contraction of the problem. New rules are being considered which will permit a 60% growth in toxic volatile organic carbons from the tar sands by 2015[3]. Regulations that will oblige companies to recover “tailing ponds” (huge lakes of highly toxic waste) only require them to do so at the rate they increase them[5]**. Even when ‘reclaimed’, most companies admit that the new forest will have much lower levels of biodiversity[24].
Breaches in non-CO2 pollutant levels at the tar sand refineries have been ignored[9] and the Canadian Governments pitifully weak ‘carbon-controlling’ legislation has merely restricted the intensity of the operations, allowing them to operate as before and even grow without breaching limits[3]. In fact, the limits are set so high that Canadian tar sands corporations may actually be able to earn cash, between £16 million and £380 million, from the sale of carbon credits[24]. In total, the oil sands industry is being paid £540 million a year in subsidies[9].
“The horrendously carbon-intensive … tar sands in Canada, cannot be developed. The carbon emissions from … tar sands would initiate a continual unfolding of climate disasters over the course of this century.”
James Hansen, Head of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
Promises about monitoring, engagement with indigenous peoples, water extraction limits, gaseous emission limits, and reclamation of tailing ponds, have been made and broken[3]. The tar sands industry is being paid handsomely to destroy Canada’s pristine environment whilst laws are passed permitting crime to increase, with the criminals appointed judge and jury at their own trial.
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