http://www.660news.com/2014/03/19/critics-call-albertas-plan-for-athabasca-river-pathetic-not-science-based/
Critics call Alberta’s plan for Athabasca River ‘pathetic,’ not science
based
EDMONTON – Alberta’s plan to protect the Athabasca River from the
escalating pressure of oilsands development reveals how little the
government understands about the environment it claims to protect, say
prominent scientists and critics.
“It’s pretty pathetic,” said David Schindler, a retired University of
Alberta ecologist and a leading expert on fresh-water systems. “If you
were to put this before a panel of international scientists, they would
be incredulous.”
Government officials say the draft plan, obtained by The Canadian Press,
is the best they can do with what they have.
“The challenge we have is that we’re using what I’d call the best
available science,” said Andy Ridge, director of water policy for
Alberta Environment. “It’s not necessarily the best possible.
“Most people are going to say we need to improve the science. But of
what’s available, (we’ve) used it.”
Last December, the provincial government distributed its draft surface
water quantity management framework for the Lower Athabasca River to
industry, interest groups and First Nations. Its measures are expected
to be implemented by the fall.
The report points out industrial water demand on the Athabasca is
expected to increase by nearly 500 per cent by 2020 and provides ways to
regulate how much water could be removed at different times of the year.
The river’s flow varies wildly: from 88 cubic metres per second in
January to more than 3,500 in July.
Using 50 years of flow data, the report lays out varying withdrawal
limits for five “seasons.” At all times, total withdrawals would be a
small fraction of the river’s flow and would nearly stop when the
Athabasca was flowing at its lowest rate.
Companies would be encouraged to store water to use during low-flow periods.
The problem, say critics, is that there’s no research justifying those
withdrawals. Fish habitat, bug populations, water quality, groundwater,
connections to tributaries — none of those factors was considered.
“It’s not based in anything,” said Bill Donahue, a water scientist and a
member of a panel that advises the province on environmental monitoring.
“It involves no assessment of the capacity of the river to tolerate
reductions in flow.”
Even a couple inches in water levels can be critical, said Schindler.
“The main fear about low flows is that it will leave eggs and embryos
high and dry. It’s like nobody wants to get out into the field and do
some actual biology to see what flows the (plants and animals) require.”
Worse, Donahue said, is that the report assumes the Athabasca will reach
its very lowest levels with the same frequency it has for the last 50
years. That ignores that most of those low-flow years occurred within
the last decade, probably because of climate change.
Even then, waiting for the river to hit the lowest levels on record
before cutting off withdrawals is too late, he said.
“A characterization of the draft framework as ‘protective’ of the health
of the Lower Athabasca River is wildly aspirational.”
Ridge acknowledges in-the-field science is scarce in the report. He said
Alberta used state-of-the-art computer modelling to fill in the gap.
“The science is less in the actual looking at the trends in the flows
and more in the running of scenarios — using raw data from different
sources and running through models that are generally accepted water
models.”
Ridge said the current framework is an attempt to manage risk to the
ecosystem. If things change, so will the rules, he said.
“If the amount of water that’s being used by oilsands, or if the degree
to which we’re seeing low flow periods, is deviating from what we
assumed in our base modelling, then we need to revisit this framework.”
More and better research is on its way, he said.
Schindler has doubts.
“I would swear I’ve seen this document 10 years ago,” he said.
Donahue said the framework is as much political as it is scientific.
“Scientists have been asked, ‘We need this framework and we need it
yesterday,’” he said.
Donahue said the province is gambling with its major industry.
“This industry is expanding on the absolute assumption that water
supplies are going to be stable and at levels they’ve been at in the
past for at least the next 50 years. All the trends say that’s not the
proper way to look at it.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if companies have to shut down if we get one or
two or five years that are drier than normal.”
Those who actually live on the river aren’t impressed either.
“When we hit low water levels, a lot of our people won’t even be able to
get into their traditional territory,” said Chief Allan Adam of the
Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, a band of 1,000 people at Fort
Chipewyan, where about three-quarters of the people are on the river
several times a week.
“This government — both federal and provincial — are, in more ways than
one, catering to industry needs and looking after the whole economic front.”
Adam’s band has filed for a judicial review of a land-use plan for the
area that includes the water-use framework.
“We will lobby government and bring it to their attention that this is
wrong. If that continues to happen, you will always have confrontation.”
======================================================================
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/oilsands-study-confirms-tailings-found-in-groundwater-river-1.2545089
Oilsands study confirms tailings found in groundwater, river
Federal study shows water from tailings ponds leaching into Athabasca River
CBC News Posted: Feb 20, 2014 11:59 AM MT Last Updated: Feb 21, 2014
6:51 PM MT
New federal research confirms that Alberta’s oilsands are polluting
ground water and seeping into the Athabasca River.
The industry has maintained that toxic chemicals are contained safely in
tailing ponds, but new research shows this isn’t the case.
“Well, it looks like what they’ve seen is that in fact the tailings
ponds are leaking,” said Bill Donahue, environmental scientist with the
oilsands advisory committee.
“They found also not only are those tailings ponds leaking, but it looks
like it is flowing pretty much from those tailings ponds, through the
ground and into the Athabasca River.”
“So, there goes … that message we’ve been hearing about. ‘These tailings
ponds are safe, they don’t leak’ and so on."
Previous studies using models have estimated the leakage at 6.5 million
litres a day from a single pond.
But the Environment Canada study used new technology to actually
fingerprint the mix of groundwater chemicals in the area.
It found the mix of chemicals from tailings is different from that in
naturally occurring bitumen deposits.
That tailings mix, which contains toxic chemicals, is found in
groundwater around mining operations, but not in areas away from
development.
The Pembina Institute, an environmental research group, has long said
the ponds leak. But analyst Erin Flanagan said the new research shows
even Pembina underestimated how much.
"As we continue to expand the industry, we're also expanding the
production of tailings waste."
The study, conducted under a new federal-provincial oilsands monitoring
program, was accepted for publication in late January by the journal
Environmental Science and Technology.
The federal scientists were not available. The Alberta government says
the research is of interest, but doesn't confirm anything.
Abstract at:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es500131k?journalCode=esthag
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