CHARTS: The coming critical minerals trade war is BRICS short of a load
"While a large number of countries around the world continue to talk about securing raw material supply, China is actually doing something about it."
Alberta should establish an independent agency to monitor the environmental impact and pollution from oil sands development, an independent panel told the provincial government in a report released Tuesday.
The Alberta Environmental Monitoring Panel was formed in January under pressure from environment groups when questions emerged over the quality and comprehensiveness of environmental reporting on the oil sands. Canada’s oil sands also come under fire recently when it was revealed that the federal government deliberately excluded data indicating a 20% increase in pollution in a climate change report to the UN.
CTV News quotes Hal Kvisle, a panel leader, and former chief executive of pipeline giant TransCanada Corp as saying the report is not meant to slam Alberta’s current efforts, but rather find ways to better organize them.
Reuters reports a study last year coauthored by University of Alberta biologist David Schindler found that oil sands plants were sending toxins including mercury, arsenic and lead into the watershed. Schindler criticized work by the government-supported and industry-funded Regional Aquatics Monitoring Program, which said pollution in the Athabasca River system occurs naturally.
The Ottawa Citizen reported on Canada’s misleading report to the UN saying it revealed a six per cent drop in annual emissions for the entire economy from 2008 to 2009, but does not directly show the extent of pollution from the oilsands production, which is greater than the greenhouse gas emissions of all the cars driven on Canadian roads.
MINING.com reported earlier in July that a lack of new pipelines – vehemently opposed by environmental groups – are costing oil sands producers $33m per day in lost revenue because of the spread between what Canada receives to export crude to the US where there is a glut and the global oil price.
Building new pipelines would remove the glut but it’s almost three years since TransCanada first applied to extend its Keystone pipeline and Enbridge’s project to pipe crude to the west coast for export to Asia will languish for another 18 months in a environmental impact review process. All this while US need for crude continues to seep away and Chinese demand grows at double digit rates.
