Canadian tar sands pollution is up to 6,300% higher than reported, study finds, Call for companies to ‘clean up their mess’ as Athabasca oil sands emissions vastly exceed industry-reported levels by Matthew Taylor, 25 Jan 2024, The Guardian
Toxic emissions from the Canadian tar sands – already one of the dirtiest fossil fuels – have been dramatically underestimated, according to a study.
Research published in the journal Science found that air pollution from the vast Athabasca oil sands in Canada exceed industry-reported emissions across the studied facilities by a staggering 1,900% to over 6,300%.
Academics said this means that damaging reactive pollutants from the oil sands are equivalent to those from all other human-made sources across Canada with severe health implications.
Keith Stewart, a senior energy strategist for Greenpeace Canada, said: “In quantifying the astonishing and largely unreported levels of health-damaging air pollution coming out of oil sands operations, these scientists have validated what downwind Indigenous communities have been saying for decades. This is making people sick, so our governments can and should require these companies to use some of their record-breaking profits to clean up the mess they’ve made.”
Canadian tar sands
Bravo for calling the toxic shit what it is!, also called oil sands, are a massive site of oil extraction in the province of Alberta. They cover an area larger than England, are one of the biggest industrial projects on the planet, and have seen record production levels this year.
The type of oil in the tar sands is called “bitumen”. It is extremely heavy and difficult to extract. Getting it from deep in the ground to the surface can use up massive amounts of water – enough to rival what a small city may use on a daily basis. Even more water and energy is needed to refine it for commercial use and the amount of climate-polluting greenhouse gases emitted per barrel of tar sands oil can be 30% higher than conventional oil.
The study, published on Thursday, reveals the scale of air pollution caused by the process. Using aircraft to measure pollutants, it found that there are many organic compounds being released during the process that are missed by traditional ways of measuring air pollutants – with devastating health consequences.
For decades Indigenous communities in the region have complained about the health impact of toxic air caused by the oil sands operations.
Jesse Cardinal, from the indigenous led group Keepers of the Water, said the report confirmed what many communities had been experiencing for years.
“We are told this is all within the limits and OK but this report backs up what the communities living in these areas experience – it is so bad they cannot open their windows because it hurts their lungs to breathe – especially at night.”
The researchers examined emissions from surface mining operations as well as extraction from deeper deposits of bitumen.
They noted the importance of post-extraction waste management practices, such as “tailings processing” where toxic sludge is left to dry.
John Liggio, one of the research authors, said: “The study featured new measurements of total reactive organic chemicals onboard a research aircraft that reveal underestimated emissions by a factor of 1900% to over 6300% … These emission underestimates were not just observed at the more well-known surface mining operations, but also from in situ extraction facilities that represent over 50% of production with projected increases.”
The Canadian Environment and Climate Change ministry has been contacted for comment.
Alberta’s oilsands pump out more pollutants than industry reports, scientists find, Data collected by air finds levels of harmful pollutants can be more than 60 times higher than estimated by Benjamin Shingler, CBC News, Jan 25, 2024
Alberta’s oilsands operations produce far more potentially harmful air pollutants than are officially reported, with the daily output on par with those from gridlocked megacities like Los Angeles, new research suggests.
The study, published today in the academic journal Science, measured concentrations of organic carbon emissions in the air by flying overhead and taking samples. Those numbers were compared to estimated amounts, prepared using ground-based data, reported by oilsands operations.
The researchers from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and Yale University found levels that were between 20 and 64 times higher than those reported by industry, depending on the oilsands facility.
The chemicals included volatile organic compounds, which are considered dangerous to human health and found on the warning labels of products like nail polish and paint thinners.
John Liggio, a co-author of the study and an ECCC research scientist, said the total output of these chemicals is roughly on par with what’s produced from all other human sources in the country, ranging from transportation to manufacturing.
“When we measured the organic carbon emissions from the oilsands — the total organic carbon — those emissions were substantially higher than what industry is reporting,” Liggio said in an interview.
Pollutants not captured in official reporting
The emissions levels reported by industry to the federal and Alberta governments are typically calculated using what’s called a “bottom-up” approach, based on estimates of the amount of emissions produced for specific activities in the oilsands, said the study.
Research using satellite imagery and measurements from aircraft is known as a “top-down” approach.
In this case, the researchers drew the samples from 17 facilities during 30 flights in 2018.
The findings build on previous research that has shown other types of pollutants, including greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, are also higher than the reported totals.
“Work over the last 15 years or so has continually shown that there’s more going into the air from the oilsands than is being officially recorded,” said Jeffrey Brook, air quality expert and associate professor at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health.
Brook, who has also conducted research on oilsands emissions, said the latest study shows “that there’s a whole class of air pollutants that are being released in large quantities that are largely, if not completely, being excluded from official reporting.”
Liggio said recording pollutants in this way would be far too costly to do regularly. However, he said the study can help industry and government better track what is being pumped into the air.
“You can’t know what you’re missing and how important what you’re missing is until you go out and measure it, and that’s the point of this paper,” he said.
The gap between industry estimates and actual concentrations found by the researchers has caught the attention of Pathways Alliance, which represents major oilsands producers.
The study has “identified a difference between ground measurements and those collected in an aircraft that warrant further review,” spokesperson Mark Cameron said in a statement.
Industry “measures emissions using standards set by Environment and Climate Change Canada and we look forward to working together Bribe and or threaten the researchers quiet? to explore opportunities to further enhance our pollution measurement practices,” he added.
ECCC did not immediately return a request for comment.
Tiny particles a health concern
The study focused on pollutant levels rather than potential impacts on human health.
But the pollutants can eventually transform into tiny particles like the ones produced in wildfires, which doctors warn can be harmful to human health.
“The tiny particles are something we track a lot as being a health concern,” said Brook.
That particulate matter, known as PM2.5, measures 2.5 microns or less in diameter — roughly 30 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.
Such particles can have long-term consequences on human health, said Dr. Joe Vipond, an emergency room physician in Calgary and past president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment.
“It’s pretty mind-blowing, the amount of pollutants that are being thrown out into the air by these facilities,” he said.
“I think it’s really important to recognize that we have this monitoring of industrial facilities for a reason. They exist so that we can understand the impact of the industrial facilities on the landscape and on people. And unless we have the actual truth in what is being emitted it’s very hard to put that into context.”
Refer also to:
2024: New Study: Children are more vulnerable to poor air quality
2021: Air pollution and COVID-19: A dangerous combination.
2019: THE PLAN ALL ALONG: Writing on Alberta’s Polluting Deregulating Walls: Pilot project to dump toxic tarsands waste directly into Athabasca River, followed by more deregulating to enable oil, gas, frac waste dumped directly into watersheds across Canada?
2015: Toxic taint: Tests in Alberta industrial heartland reveal air-quality concerns
2013: Tarsands tailings leaking into groundwater, Joe Oliver told in memo