Fort
McMurray Flooding Emphasizes Tar Sands' Threat to Mackenzie River
Basin
13
June, 2013
Record
flooding in the heart of the Alberta tar sands dramatically
illustrates their threat to Canada's 'Serengeti', the Mackenzie River
basin. Only days before this week's flooding in Fort McMurray, a
panel of international science experts warned that the nearly 200
square kilometres of toxic wastewater lakes near rivers like the
Athabasca pose a direct threat one of the world's most important
ecosystems.
"What
happens in the Mackenzie River Basin has global consequences,"
Henry Vaux, a resource economist at the University of California told
DeSmog.
The
largest single threat to the Basin is a potential breach in one of
the many tailings or wastewater lakes sending the toxic water into
the Athabasca River, a major tributary of the Mackenzie said nine
Canadian, US and UK scientists convened by the US-based Rosenberg
International Forum on Water Policy.
A
breach in one of the wastewater impoundments in winter "would be
virtually impossible to remediate or clean-up," they also warned
in their report released Sunday June 9.
Canada
will get plenty of international pressure if it does not begin to
protect and properly manage this vast region that comprises 20
percent of the entire country Vaux told DeSmog.
That
pressure could come very soon. Three days of flooding in the Fort
McMurray region has damaged roads, homes and eroded the ground around
a main gas line causing a rupture according to media reports.
Government and industry officials continue to say the wastewater
lakes that the industry calls "tailings ponds" that cover
an area that's getting close to twice the size of the City of
Vancouver are unaffected.
More
rain is forecast in the region over the next few days.
"Extractive
industries should be required to post a substantial performance bond
which would be used to cover the costs of site clean-up should the
enterprise fail financially or otherwise fail to fully remediate
damage and destruction at the site in question," the report
recommends.
That
recommendation comes just days before the Alberta government
acknowledged that oil sands companies have been unable to meet
regulations requiring a decrease in the size of the wastewater
tailings ponds. These sites have increased in size but Alberta will
not impose any penalties and said the rules were too ambitious.
Researchers
have compared the Mackenzie Basin to Africa's Serengeti Plain, an
area of comparable size. Both ecosystems harbour high biodiversity
and biological productivity the experts report. The Basin's global
importance is reflected in its role in hemispheric bird migrations --
many South American birds nest in the region. It is also important
region in helping to stabilize the climate and plays a role in the
health of the Arctic Ocean.
The
Mackenzie is Canada's longest river, beginning in the Columbia
Icefield in the Canadian Rockies and runs 1,800 km to the Arctic
Ocean. Major tributary rivers, include the Peace, Athabasca, Liard,
Hay, Peel, South Nahanni and Slave. Some 45,000 lakes are in the
Mackenzie Basin including the Great Slave, Great Bear and Athabasca.
The
Mackenzie Basin is undergoing major changes with temperatures 2C
warmer than 30 years ago. Permafrost soils containing hundreds of
millions of tonnes of greenhouse gases are thawing releasing those
gases. The region's extensive peatlands are drying out. Lightning
strikes lead to peatland fires that can smoulder for months and even
years releasing huge volumes of CO2, said Vaux, who is also Chair of
the Rosenberg Forum.
The
local climate is additionally affected by the loss of Arctic sea ice.
In 2012, the sea ice declined a record 11.83 million square
kilometers by September -- an area larger than Canada's 10 million sq
km.
There
is about one month less snow cover now and glaciers in the Canadian
Rockies have lost 25 percent of their ice. All of these changes are
affecting the amount of water available for the Basin's rivers and
lakes.
Though
these changes are already significant, "and in some cases border
on catastrophic," the report says, climate simulations suggest
increased warming will lead to even higher temperatures of a level
not seen on Earth in more than 10,000 years.
"Most
participating stakeholders believe the region could adapt if the
changes occur slowly," says the report. "However, rapid
warming will make adaptation considerably more difficult."
Since
the Basin encompasses three provinces and two territories it has a
history of fragmented governance. The Mackenzie River Basin Board
established in the 1990s was supposed to solve that problem but it
had little support or funding said Vaux.
The
River Basin Board needs to be reinvigorated with an independent
scientific advisory council, receive full participation by First
Nations and operate independent of governments and industry he said.
"This
is the window of opportunity to act before the Mackenzie Basin
degrades and becomes more difficult to manage," he said.
"We
hope Canadians will be proactive rather than reactive."
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