Storm clouds forming over the oil sands

Alberta’s controversial energy project took two big hits this week when a report found toxins in local rivers and major U.S. companies began boycotting oil sands fuel

For years the provincial and federal governments, as well as the energy industry, have said that the massive oil sands developments in Alberta have had only a negligible effect on the environmental health of the Athabasca River. But a report released today by water expert David Schindler found high levels of 13 toxins in the Athabasca. On top of that, public relations campaigns by environmentalists in the U.S. appear to be working, as several American companies announced that they will be switching to non-oil sands fuel.

Graham Thomson at the Edmonton Sun says there’s no reason to dismiss Schindler’s report, despite government’s wish to do so. Schindler “is not paid by Greenpeace, neither is he on the payroll of government or industry” and in a debate in which both sides like to label each other alternately as either dirty hippies or greedy fat cats, “he is an unimpeachable and refreshingly independent scientific voice.”

Even supporters of the oil sands shouldn’t be angry at the government because of this report, argues Vancouver Sun blogger Barbara Yaffe, because after spending millions “fighting the environmentalists' campaigns against the oil sands,” now “the industry and government will also have an uphill battle trying to redeem their own reputation.” Because of their stubborn lack of transparency, it will be hard to erase the “impression in the public's mind that the authorities responsible for the oil sands have been untruthful and irresponsible.” That will be bad for the oil sands, and anyone who profits from them (ie, basically all Canadians.)

Ezra Levant of Sun Media, always capable of finding targets for his brand of op-ed hellfire, isn’t so concerned with pollution but instead with the U.S. companies boycotting oil sands fuel, and the other oil-producing countries to which they’ll turn to get it. In a truly entertaining article, he spares no one his Levantian fury, including the Gap (“Canada’s oil isn’t produced by 10-year-old kids or abused Chinese women”), Saudi Arabia (“that racist, misogynistic, terror-sponsoring dictatorship”), and even Walgreens (“taking ethical guidance from Walgreen’s is sort of like taking abstinence advice from Hugh Hefner”).