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Toxic acid deserves scrutiny by tailings ponds observers: environmentalists
News Articles | Edmonton Journal | Trish Audette | July 09, 2010
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The province has more research to do on one of the most toxic ingredients in oilsands tailings ponds before adopting new rules to govern how it's handled.
“Naphthenic acids are an obvious concern because they contribute
toxicity,” said Preston McEachern, head of Alberta Environment’s science,
research and innovation section.
“The real problem on the regulatory front … (is) you can’t regulate what
you can’t measure or monitor.”
As environmental groups across the country pressure Ottawa and Alberta to
keep a better eye on naphthenic acid, the province is just now developing
the tools to measure the substance and lay the groundwork for study.
This week, the group Environmental Defence sent a letter to the federal
ministers of environment and health, demanding naphthenic acid be added to
a list of pollutants companies must report.
“After the (Syncrude) ducks incident, I think people sort of have an
understanding that these tailings ponds aren’t full of good things. At the
same time, I’m not sure the average person is really paying much attention
to the sometimes unpronounceable toxic substances which are in these
ponds….” said Matt Price, the organization’s Torontobased policy
director.
“At a very minimum here, we should have a sense of how big the (naphthenic
acid) issue is.”
Naphthenic acid is just one part of the mix of water, sand, clay, bitumen,
toxic compounds and heavy metals headed to tailings ponds as part of the
oil-extraction process.
Naphthenic acid occurs naturally wherever there is oil, however Alberta’s
oilsands provide a unique environment because the acid compound mixes with
water.
Naphthenic acid can be used to make paint dry or preserve wood. it can
also hinder organ growth in aquatic life, hurt reproductive systems and
affect the liver’s processing ability.
Treating water bodies for naphthenic acid isn’t easy. While McEachern
estimated a pond could be cleaned out in as little as a few months, a
tailings pond is continuously being loaded with more naphthenic acid as
water is recycled and reused for more oilsands extraction.
In groundwater, naphthenic acid would be more persistent.
In Ottawa, the director general of science and risk assessment for
Environment Canada said the government is first focused on substances that
pose the greatest risks of causing harm.
“Those are the ones that are really the highest of the high priorities
after a seven-year science process,” George Enei told Canwest News
Service.
He said naphthenic acids are being evaluated and could wind up being
listed on the National Pollutant Release Inventory and the Petroleum
Stream of the Chemicals Management Plan.
“It has Canada’s attention and we are moving forward,” Enei said. “But
we’re moving forward in a phased manner based on what the greatest risk
is.”
But Simon Dyer, the oilsands program director for the Pembina Institute,
said naphthenic acid hasn’t been given the attention it deserves as a
pollutant.
Tagged with: pembina institute, environment canada, naphthenic acids
