Politicians cancel oilsands pollution probe, tear up draft reports

By MIKE DE SOUZA, Canwest News Service Tuesday, July 06, 2010

OTTAWA - Federal politicians from the government and opposition benches have mysteriously cancelled an 18-month investigation into oilsands pollution in water and opted to destroy draft copies of their final report, Canwest News Service has learned.

The aborted investigation comes as new questions are being raised about the Harper government's decision to exempt a primary toxic pollutant found in oilsands tailings ponds from a regulatory agenda.

The government is in the process of categorizing industry-produced substances that could either be toxic or harmful, but has excluded naphthenic acid - a toxin from oilsands operations - from the list, and left it off another list of substances that companies are required to track and report.

The exclusion is "alarming" according to a letter sent Tuesday to Environment Minister Jim Prentice and Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, since the federal and Alberta governments have already identified it as a primary source of pollution in liquid waste dumped into ponds after companies extract oil from the region.

"Naphthenic acids are one of the main pollutants responsible for the toxicity of tarsands tailings to aquatic organisms, and have been shown to harm liver, heart and brain function in mammals," wrote Matt Price, the policy director at Environmental Defence, an independent research organization based in Toronto. "Naphthenic acids are also very long-lived, taking decades to break down."

Price also said in the letter that the federal and provincial governments are already allowing some of the toxins to leak into groundwater and surface water.

"It is therefore urgent that all tailings pollutants, and naphthenic acid in particular, be properly assessed and managed to minimize the risk to human and environmental health," he wrote.

Environment Canada said that a variety of acids from the oilsands are on a medium priorities list of its chemical-management plan, but have not yet been assessed. A spokeswoman explained in an e-mail that the government would also consider adding naphthenic acids to a list of substances that companies would be required to report following further study.

The petroleum sector is the only industry with its own stream of substances to be evaluated under the government's plan.

Meantime, Price added that the United States had moved forward with specific reporting requirements for the substance, urging the Harper government to follow suit, especially following the cancelled investigation in Parliament.

"The recent decision of the federal environment committee to abandon its work on a report regarding water and the oilsands industry heightens the need for the federal government to properly deal with oilsands pollution, or risk further undermining public trust in responsible oversight of the industry," Price wrote.

The MPs made the decision to terminate their investigation and destroy copies of their report in a meeting behind closed doors on June 17, and they have all declined to provide details on what happened apart from explaining that they failed to reach a consensus.

Liberal MP Francis Scarpaleggia, who spearheaded the parliamentary investigation on water pollution from the oilsands, blamed the government for dragging its feet on regulating the industry. He said he was working on his own report based on evidence and testimony gathered during parliamentary hearings.

"I . . . have no intention of letting go this subject that should be part and parcel of the true national water strategy Canadians demand and deserve," Scarpaleggia said. "The Conservative government has a lot of answering to do for its persistent lack of leadership on water in general and on oilsands and water in particular. The Conservative government's record on water and oilsands has been one of constant denial and foot-dragging."

Conservative MP James Bezan, who chairs the House of Commons environment committee, said he was disappointed that MPs were unable to agree on the final report, but believes the investigation has still brought important information into the public domain through the hearings and testimony from expert witnesses that have resulted in several independent reports and commentary.

"Over the next few weeks, I expect that you'll see the opposition parties and the government responding with their own considerations and recommendations on what we heard," Bezan said.

Environment Minister Jim Prentice has also recently announced that his department was investing $1.6 million in new technology to identify chemical fingerprints of toxins in the water to determine whether they are originating from specific oilsands operations.

And NDP environment critic Linda Duncan confirmed that she plans to produce her own report based on the committee's investigation. But she noted that some of the delays were caused by the government's decision to shut down Parliament at the end of last year.

"I'm very, very upset that it's dragged on this long," said Duncan. "It's absolutely shameful that the federal government is sitting on its hands."

In its investigation, MPs on the committee also travelled to hear from witnesses in Calgary, Edmonton and Fort McMurray in Alberta, but figures on their budget were not immediately available.

c. Nanaimo Daily News