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Feds failing in duty to protect water from oilsands development: Report
News Articles | Mike De Souza | Canwest News Service | November 23, 2009
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The study, prepared by seven environmental organizations and obtained exclusively by Canwest News Service, highlights key testimony from recent federal hearings that revealed a failure to crack down on major water diversions, regulate toxic pollution and leakage as well as the absence of legislation to reduce acid rain and regulations to address climate change.
“While the federal government is already engaged in some areas related to oilsands activity, it fails to adequately utilize or enforce federal laws designed to protect public health and the environment,” said the report, Watered Down: Overcoming Federal Inaction on the Impact of Oilsands Development to Water Resources. “Today, a new approach is necessary — one that requires federal leadership.”
The report says the federal government has the authority to crack down on operations that threaten public health under existing fisheries and environmental-protection legislation as well as its constitutional power to “make laws for the peace, order and good government of Canada.”
However, the expanding oilsands operations in Western Canada and their impact on water resources are not being properly monitored or regulated by the government, the report said.
“Oilsands activity is projected to result in the clearing of 4,802 square kilometres of forests and wetlands for mining pits and also for the construction of roads, well sites, and pipelines that destroy the land’s ability to maintain ecosystem health by storing and filtering water,” said the report.
“This area is equivalent to the combined size of Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa/Hull. Over 2,000 square kilometres of wetlands alone will be lost if the entire surface mineable area is exploited.”
The report also criticizes Environment Canada officials for testifying in parliamentary hearings that toxic water from oilsands operations is not leaking into the environment — despite reports from the provincial government and the industry itself that acknowledge seepage into groundwater and surface water.
“If you really look at all the testimony (from federal hearings) the overwhelming response was the feds are not doing enough,” said Danielle Droitsch, lead author of the report and the executive director of Water Matters, an Alberta-based organization. “In fact, in some cases, it’s almost like they are looking the other way.”
The Northwest Territories government agrees that the federal government is not living up to its responsibilities, and is calling for a national water strategy to address the concerns.
“This has got to be a political priority,” said Michael Miltenberger, deputy premier of the Northwest Territories. “You need the plan and the resources to do the job properly. . . . If this isn’t an issue of national security, nothing is.”
Tagged with: stephen harper, public health, environment canada
