The scary oil sands

Canadians’ concerns over Alberta oil-sands development centre largely around its impact on climate change.

And for good reason. In a list of 207 nations ranked by greenhouse gas emissions, Alberta’s oil sands come out higher than 145 of them.


And that comparison is based on 2007 emissions. Under its proposed “intensity” caps to fight global warming, the Harper government predicts a near doubling in oil-sand emissions by 2020.

But as a study released last week by the advocacy group Environmental Defence shows, the dangers posed by the tar sands go far beyond climate change. The most frightening is the leaching of toxins into the region’s water supplies, which the study terms “a giant slow-motion oil spill.”

Toronto Star