For The Record

The Alberta government needs to fact check their facts.

I was listening to CBC radio a few days ago when I heard that the Government of Alberta has added an on-line fact check feature relating to news articles about the province.  They call it "For the Record."

The CBC noted that the Alberta government was crying foul at a statement made recently in The Economist magazine regarding the tar sand operations.  The Economist (January 15, 2009) stated, "At some projects, leaks of toxic materials have polluted waterways."

In response, the Alberta government website stated, for the record,"Alberta has monitored and tested Athabasca watercourses for decades; all of our data indicates no evidence of contamination from the oil sands project."

Is the Alberta government telling the truth?  Not according to my memory.  

Sometime in the early 1980s (probably 1982) my Master's degree supervisor, Dr. Lyle Lockhart, at the Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg, was involved in providing expert testimony against Suncor (one of the big tar sand operators) relating to a spill into the Athabasca River.  The lab I was working in did some toxicity testing of the oil using duckweed as a bioindicator.  It was necessary to provide evidence of the toxicity of the material.

I recall the spill was caused by a fire that burned through the protective liner of a waste pond. The spill occurred in the winter as it was detected days after the event by a helicopter pilot who saw a huge plug of oil under the ice. 

Many charges were laid against Suncor but the province of Alberta handed the case over to a single lawyer who was overwhelmed with the legal paperwork created by a small army of lawyers for Suncor.   He had a nervous breakdown, at least that is what I was told, during the trial.  In the end, most charges were dismissed and Suncor was convicted only on a handful. If my memory is correct, total fines were in the few thousands of dollars.  Probably less than one week of lawyers fees.

I say that The Economist got it right.

Photo Credit: The Economist (tar sand operations near Fort McMurray).