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Oilsands tailings ponds leaking toxic chemicals-federal govt study

Oilsands tailings ponds leaking toxic chemicals: federal govt study

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Oilsands tailings ponds leaking toxic chemicals-federal govt study
Syncrude tailings pond (David Dodge, Pembina Institute)

Bob Weber, The Canadian Press

EDMONTON – New federal research has strongly backed suspicions that toxic chemicals from Alberta’s vast oilsands tailings ponds are leaching into groundwater and seeping into the Athabasca River.

Leakage from oilsands tailings ponds, which now cover 176 square kilometres, has long been an issue. Industry has acknowledged that seepage can occur and previous studies using models have estimated it at 6.5 million litres a day from a single pond.

The soil around the developments contains many chemicals from naturally occurring bitumen deposits and scientists have never able to separate them from contaminants released by industry.

The current Environment Canada study, accepted for publication in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, used new technology to discover that the mix of chemicals is slightly different between the two sources. That discovery, made using a $1.6-million piece of equipment purchased in 2010 to help answer such questions, allows scientists to actually fingerprint chemicals and trace them back to where they came from.

“Differentiation of natural from (tailings water) sources was apparent,” says the study.

The scientists took 20 groundwater samples from areas at least one kilometre upstream and downstream from development. They took another seven samples from within 200 metres of two of the tailings ponds.

Samples were also taken from two different tailings ponds.

The analysis was focused on so-called acid-extractable organics, which include a family of chemicals called naphthenic acids.

“Their enhanced water solubility makes them prime candidates for possible migration beyond containment structures via groundwater,” the report says.

Those toxins were found in groundwater both near and far from development. But their chemical composition was slightly different nearer the mines — closer to that found in the water from the ponds.

“Analyses all demonstrate a close similarity between these two (near) samples and (tailings water), as opposed to the natural far-field groundwater,” the report says.

“The resemblance between the (acid-extracted organics) profiles from (tailings water) and from six groundwater samples adjacent to two tailings ponds implies a common source. These samples included two of upward-flowing groundwater collected (less than) one metre beneath the Athabasca River, suggesting (tailings water) is reaching the river system.”

The study doesn’t quantify the amount of tailings ponds water that is escaping. It noted that even at the sample sites near development, pond water was diluted by natural groundwater.

The research was conducted under the auspices of the Joint Oilsands Monitoring Program run by the federal and Alberta governments and funded by a $50-million levy on industry.

Industry is working to address the tailings issue, budgeting more than $1 billion in tailings-reduction technology.

Groundwater is monitored at all tailings sites to ensure it’s flowing as expected.

Operators use ditches and cut-off walls to capture seepage and runoff water, and install groundwater interception wells. Captured water is pumped back into tailings pond.

Mark Cooper, spokesman for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said the quality of water in the Athabasca River remains good.

“Current tailings pond and groundwater monitoring in the oilsands shows no substances being released or predicted to be released in quantities or concentrations that would degrade or alter water quality,” he said. “This study does not change that.”

Cooper said the association supports research such as the Environment Canada study and echoed its call for more research in the same vein.

“While the research technique used in this study shows some potential, further detailed work is required to evaluate its accuracy and adequacy for tracking oil sands process water.”

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Exploding BC LNG Myths-Part 2

Exploding BC LNG Myths – Part 2

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Exploding BC LNG Myths-Part 2
BC Minister of Natural Gas Development, Rich Coleman (BC Govt photo)

“The opposition wouldn’t know LNG if it came up and bit them, they’re totally uninformed.” – Rich Coleman, BC Minister of Natural Gas Development.

For over three years, Rich Coleman has led the BC LNG charge; however, he has taken a back seat in recent weeks as his self-imposed deadlines for progress on LNG development have repeatedly blown up.

Very little mention has been made of the non-disclosure agreements Coleman has with 12 or so companies lined up to exploit BC’s massive natural gas reserves – but that apparently does not stop him from admonishing his critics for being “totally uninformed.”

After missing his third self-imposed deadline to finally let the rest of us in on his non-disclosed, high-level negotiations, Coleman continues to hold his cards close to his chest.

While this week’s Liberal budget finally included some details on the long-promissed tax regime for LNG, it has yet to become legislated or locked in. This should be viewed as trial balloon – a proposed “framework” enabling the Liberals to say they’ve “delivered” on something. And the terms themselves show what raw deal taxpayers can expect under the Liberals’ LNG scheme (more on that in a bit).

In this, the second part of “Exploding BC LNG Myths” (See part one here), we examine the few details we have to work with to try to understand what Coleman is doing and how BC intends to launch itself to the forefront of a trillion dollar worldwide LNG industry.

[quote]While Clark campaigns for a Debt Free BC, she alone will have booked over half of the debt accumulated since we started calling the place British Columbia.[/quote]

Yet another budget of promised “Prosperity”

Claim: BC Liberals are keeping their election campaign promises of a “Debt Free BC”, balanced budgets, job creation and a prosperous future due to LNG.

False: When Clark became Premier in 2011 and began her “Debt Free BC” Campaign, total Provincial debt was 45.2 Billion dollars. Despite her government’s claims of balanced budgets with surpluses – past, present and future – BC’s total debt will climb over 50%, from 45.2to 68.9 Billion dollars.

In other words, while Clark campaigns for a Debt Free BC, she alone will have booked over half of the debt accumulated since we started calling the place British Columbia! And she will do it all before the next election. And that’s not counting the $100 Billion in additional contractual obligations they’ve racked up for taxpayers, hidden from public view.

That is a staggering, unprecedented growth in debt and there will not be one nickel of promised prosperity funds booked  from LNG revenues before the next election.

Liberals fail in job creation too

The BC Liberal Government has also lost a staggering 21 000 full-time jobs since Clark was elected less than a year ago – despite the multi-million dollar “Job Creation Plan” that was the center of her campaign of a strong economy, secure tomorrow, smaller government and thriving private sector.

Most new job creation during the entirety of the now almost three-year-old “Jobs plan” has been in in the public sector.

BC Liberals Give away the Farm

Claim (Rich Coleman): “I think people will be surprised how smart we have been with the establishment of a taxation regime for the budding LNG industry.”

Partially True: It is true that Coleman and his repeatedly-promised, non-disclosed terms still have yet to be fully divulged and legislated but what little has been disclosed and floated by the finance minister is very clever indeed.

LNG in a NutshellEffectively, BC will not realize any serious revenue from LNG until – wait for it – not this mandate, nor the next administration, but beyond the election after that!

The two tier tax regime floated by the finance minister does not start until ships are leaving our coast full of LNG, and for 3-5 years after that it is “tier one” rates of 1.5%. However, the kicker is that every nickle paid to BC under the pathetic 1.5% tier one rate is given back to the companies once tier two is reached.

And tier two is not much better. Tier two taxation is achieved once the LNG companies we let set up shop have recovered 100% of their costs. (Remember, Petronas alone claims investment of 36 billion dollars!) And once they have recovered costs, the tier two taxation rate of “up to” 7% kicks in – at the same time all the tax paid under tier one is given back to the companies through rebates.

At this rate, economists and experts have claimed that erasing BC’s fast-growing debt, lowering taxes and filling a 100 billion dollar prosperity fund while also underwriting the services we have come to rely on is a total impossibility, based on reasonably expected LNG revenues. And even if it was achievable, it would not begin to happen for three elections after it was promised.

“Very smart” indeed Mr Coleman – to run and get re-elected on prosperity for British Columbians, but instead deliver massive giveaways to the largest most profitable multi-national companies on earth.

Time to act: Demand an inquiry and full disclosure

Our governments have already committed to export more natural gas than we have ever produced throughout all of Canada, through as many as 11 export permits, totalling 105 mtpa for twenty five years – an oil equivalent that doubles current Tarsands production. Seven of the eleven await cabinet approval, so now is the time to be heard.

Now, as of this most recent budget, they are promising to pick up the tab for large portions of total investments, with clever tax incentives and rebates that leave the resource owners holding the bag.

They have done all of this under non-disclosure and handed it all over without even so much as a commitment from a single potential investor – not even a non-binding memorandum of understanding has been produced for the largest deals in our history.

It’s time British Columbians put the breaks on this debacle, demand full disclosure and an inquiry into the secret negotiations that have resulted in taxpayer giveaways of such unprecedented, gargantuan proportions.

Our public purse, energy security, environment and economy depend on it.

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David Suzuki-Trading water for fuel is fracking crazy

David Suzuki: Trading water for fuel is fracking crazy

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David Suzuki-Trading water for fuel is fracking crazy
Fracking protest in New Brunswick (photo: Colin McPhail)

It would be difficult to live without oil and gas. But it would be impossible to live without water. Yet, in our mad rush to extract and sell every drop of gas and oil as quickly as possible, we’re trading precious water for fossil fuels.

A recent report, “Hydraulic Fracturing and Water Stress”, shows the severity of the problem. Alberta and B.C. are among eight North American regions examined in the study by Ceres, a U.S.-based nonprofit advocating for sustainability leadership.

Fracking happening is regions of “high water stress”

One of the most disturbing findings is that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is using enormous amounts of water in areas that can scarcely afford it. The report notes that close to half the oil and gas wells recently fracked in the U.S. “are in regions with high or extremely high water stress” and more than 55 per cent are in areas experiencing drought.

In Colorado and California, almost all wells – 97 and 96 per cent, respectively – are in regions with high or extremely high water stress, meaning more than 80 per cent of available surface and groundwater has already been allocated for municipalities, industry and agriculture. A quarter of Alberta wells are in areas with medium to high water stress.

Fracking will compound California’s 500-year drought

Drought and fracking have already caused some small communities in Texas to run out of water altogether, and parts of California are headed for the same fate. As we continue to extract and burn ever greater amounts of oil, gas and coal, climate change is getting worse, which will likely lead to more droughts in some areas and flooding in others.

California’s drought may be the worst in 500 years, according to B. Lynn Ingram, an earth and planetary sciences professor at the University of California, Berkeley. That’s causing a shortage of water for drinking and agriculture, and for salmon and other fish that spawn in streams and rivers. With no rain to scrub the air, pollution in the Los Angeles area has returned to dangerous levels of decades past.

BC, Alberta could face similar problems

Because of lack of information from industry and inconsistencies in water volume reporting, Ceres’ Western Canada data analysis “represents a very small proportion of the overall activity taking place.” Researchers determined, though, that Alberta fracking operations have started using more “brackish/saline” groundwater instead of freshwater. The report cautions that this practice needs more study “given the potential for brackish water to be used in the future for drinking water” and the fact that withdrawing salty groundwater “can also adversely impact interconnected freshwater resources.”

Although B.C. fracking operations are now mainly in low water stress regions, reduced precipitation and snowpack, low river levels and even drought conditions in some areas – likely because of climate change – raise concerns about the government’s plan to rapidly expand the industry. The report cites a “lack of regulation around groundwater withdrawals” and cumulative impacts on First Nations lands as issues with current fracking.

“Everything must go”

Ceres’ study only looks at fracking impacts on freshwater supplies, and offers recommendations to reduce those, including recycling water, using brackish or wastewater, strengthening regulations and finding better ways to dispose of fracking wastewater. But the drilling method comes with other environmental problems, from groundwater contamination to massive ecosystem and habitat disruption – even small earth tremors – all done in the name of short-term gain.

It’s important to heed the conclusions and recommendations of this study and others, but given the problems with fracking, and other forms of extraction, we must find ways to control our insatiable fossil fuel demand. That burning these – often wastefully – contributes to climate change, and our methods of extraction exacerbate the problems, should make us take a good look at how we’re treating this planet and everything on it, including ourselves and generations to come. It’s a reminder that we need to conserve energy in every way possible.

In the short term, we must realize that we have better ways to create jobs and build the economy than holding an “everything must go” sale on our precious resources. In the longer term, we must rethink our outdated economic systems, which were devised for times when resources were plentiful and infrastructure was scarce. Our highest priorities must be the air we breathe, the water we drink, the soil that provides food and the biodiversity that keeps us alive and healthy.

With contributions from David Suzuki Foundation Senior Editor Ian Hanington. 

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Cut adrift by Harper govt, Ocean pollution expert joins aquarium

Cut adrift by Harper govt, ocean pollution expert joins aquarium

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Tossed overboard by Harper cuts, Ocean pollution expert joins aquarium
Dr. Peter Ross (photo: Tanya Brown/aquablog.ca)

World-renowned ocean pollution scientist Dr. Peter Ross will continue his work through the Vancouver Aquarium, after the federal program he oversaw was shut down by the Harper Government.

The Common Sense Canadian published this farewell letter by Ross in 2012, after he learned that Canada’s only ocean pollution monitoring program was being tossed overboard, another casualty of the Harper Government’s widespread science cuts.

“It is with deep regret that I relay news of my termination of employment at Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the loss of my dream job,” Ross wrote.

[quote]It is with even greater sadness that I learn of the demise of DFO’s entire contaminants research program – regionally and nationally. It is with apprehension that I ponder a Canada without any research or monitoring capacity for pollution in our three oceans, or any ability to manage its impacts on commercial fish stocks, traditional foods for over 300,000 aboriginal people and marine wildlife.[/quote]

A year and a half later, the Vancouver Aquarium is offering a new lease on life to Dr. Ross’ work on BC’s coast, with the announcement yesterday of its new Ocean Pollution Science Program.

Ross wastes no time – new study raises alarm on microplastics

microplastics
Microplastics are contaminating our oceans (Oberbeckmann/University of Hull)

Accompanying the announcement was the release of a new paper by co-authored by Ross which offers a telling reminder of the need for his research. Published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, the study raises the issue of tiny plastic particles permeating the water column on BC’s coast.

Ross and lead author Jean-Pierre Desforges of the University of Victoria took 34 water samples, which revealed high concentrations of “microplastics” in different pockets along the coast.

“There is extensive contamination of sea water by microplastics,” said Ross Tuesday.

[quote]It raises the questions: where are they coming from and do they pose a threat to the food web? This will remain a priority for the aquarium.[/quote]

The greatest contamination levels were found in Queen Charlotte Sound, off the north end of Vancouver Island, with a mean of 7,630 particles per cubic metre

Due to geography and currents, Queen Charlotte Sound off northeastern Vancouver Island recorded the highest levels of microplastics at a mean 7,630 particles per cubic metre — with an overall study high of 9,180 particles. Other readings included:

  • 3,210 particles per cubic metre in the Strait of Georgia
  • 1,710 on the west coast of Vancouver Island
  • 279 in offshore waters of the open Northeast Pacific

Aquarium “stepping up to the plate”

Ross’ work through the Aquarium’s new research program will continue to focus on marine plastics, along with a range of other issues, including marine mammal health, hydrocarbons contamination, seafood health, and other emerging pollution concerns.

“The Ocean Pollution Science Program is part of Vancouver Aquarium’s commitment to understanding and managing our coastal environments, and adds depth to the Aquarium’s current slate of research programs,” says Dr. John Nightingale, Vancouver Aquarium president and CEO.

The program will bring to bear state-of-the-art pollution monitoring equipment that will enable research both on the water and in the lab.

“By launching this program, we’re meeting immediate scientific, conservation and education needs,” says Ross, winner of the Aquarium’s prestigious Murray A. Newman Award for Significant Achievement in Aquatic Research in 2012.

“The Aquarium is stepping up to the plate on an issue that is often vexing and complex but also worthy of dedicated research.”
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Study: Arctic getting darker, making Earth warmer

Study: Arctic getting darker, making Earth warmer

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Study: Arctic getting darker, making Earth warmer
Photo by Rear Admiral Harley D. Nygren, NOAA Corps, ret., courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Seth Borenstein, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON – The Arctic isn’t nearly as bright and white as it used to be because of more ice melting in the ocean, and that’s turning out to be a global problem, a new study says.

With more dark, open water in the summer, less of the sun’s heat is reflected back into space. So the entire Earth is absorbing more heat than expected, according to a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

That extra absorbed energy is so big that it measures about one-quarter of the entire heat-trapping effect of carbon dioxide, said the study’s lead author, Ian Eisenman, a climate scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California.

The Arctic grew eight per cent darker between 1979 and 2011, Eisenman found, measuring how much sunlight is reflected back into space.

“Basically, it means more warming,” Eisenman said in an interview.

The North Pole region is an ocean that mostly is crusted at the top with ice that shrinks in the summer and grows back in the fall. At its peak melt in September, the ice has shrunk on average by nearly 35,000 square miles — about the size of Maine — per year since 1979.

Snow-covered ice reflects several times more heat than dark, open ocean, which replaces the ice when it melts, Eisenman said.

As more summer sunlight dumps into the ocean, the water gets warmer, and ittakes longer forice to form again in the fall, Jason Box of the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland said in an email. He was not part of the study.

While earlier studies used computer models, Eisenman said his is the first to use satellite measurements to gauge sunlight reflection and to take into account cloud cover. The results show the darkening is as much as two to three times bigger than previous estimates, he said.

Box and University of Colorado ice scientist Waleed Abdalati, who was not part of the research, called the work important in understanding how much heat is getting trapped on Earth.

PNAS journal: http://www.pnas.org

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TransCanada gas pipeline breaks in Alberta

TransCanada gas pipeline ruptures in Alberta

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TransCanada gas pipeline breaks in Alberta
TransCanada gas pipelines

Updated 2 PM PST

ROCKY MOUNTAIN HOUSE, Alta. – The National Energy Board is investigating a natural gas pipeline rupture in west-central Alberta.

The federal regulator said the TransCanada (TSX:TRP) pipe broke Tuesday morning about 10 kilometres north of Rocky Mountain House.

It said the pipe was shut down and there were no immediate public safety concerns.

TransCanada spokesman Shawn Howard said the nearest home to the pipeline rupture is more than half a kilometre away. He said the company had been in contact with the landowner and no evacuation was required.

Howard said it was the company’s understanding that Transportation Safety Board and energy board personnel were on their way to the site to monitor TransCanada’s response.

“Before any repair or restoration of service work can occur, the (energy board) must approve the company’s plans,” he said in a release.

There was no disruption of natural gas service to the community of Rocky Mountain House, Howard added, although TransCanada was “working with some of our customers, who provide service to homes in rural areas, to assess their needs.”

Manager of the Rocky Gas Co-op, Vic Kelly, advised customers to use other fuel sources until the gas was turned back on.

There was no word on when that might happen.

A TransCanada pipeline explosion in Manitoba last month left about 3,600 homes and businesses without heat for several days in -20 C temperatures.

(CKGY, The Canadian Press)

Read: Regulator buried report on TransCanada pipeline explosion

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Insurance industry applying its own carbon tax

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New York City saw billions of dollars in flood-related damages from Hurricane Sandy (Michael Bocchieri/Getty Images)
New York City saw billions in flood damages from Hurricane Sandy (Michael Bocchieri/Getty Images)

The actuarial sciences of the insurance industry have identified an implacable reality and placed a tax on carbon emissions. For anyone who wants insurance, payment is unavoidable. Protesting or complaining won’t change an insurance industry that functions with the cold logic of calculated risk — if risk increases, premiums increase. And this explains their carbon tax. The industry doesn’t need measured rises in atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide or higher global average temperatures to understand what is happening to weather. All it needs is the cost of claims.

In the relative microcosm of Vancouver Island, for example, claims related to fire and lightning caused by weather jumped from levels of about $1.2 million per year in 2010 and 2011 to $6.5 million in 2012. Corresponding claims for wind damage rose from about $250,000 per year to $2.9 million. Total claims for 2012 were $15 million, equal to the sum of the previous two years — with almost all the increases related to weather. Consequently, the annual premiums for the usual package of house insurance commonly rose by a hundred dollars or more.

Across Canada, the situation is similar. “There are more and more storms happening,” said Pete Karageorgos of the Insurance Bureau of Canada, “and we’re seeing extreme weather events that happened once every 40 years… that can now be expected to happen once every six years”. Consequently, “the amount of claims that have been presented has been averaging about a billion dollars [more] a year over the last three years or so”.

Extreme weather costs grow six-fold in six years

Extreme weather events that cost Canada less than $200 million in 2006, reached $1.2 billion in 2012. Domestic fires, which were once the principal cause of insurance payouts, have been replaced by flooding, the result of engineered drainage systems being overcome by torrential rainfall. Wind damage from powerful storms has move up to the second highest cause of claims.

“It’s just been five horrendous years in a row,” confessed Glenn McGillivray, managing director of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction. Just two events in the last year — June’s flooding in Alberta and July’s torrential rainfall in Toronto — brought the insured property damage to $3 billion. The costs to insurance companies of the devastating ice storm that hit Toronto and parts of Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic Provinces during the last days of 2013, have yet to be calculated — the uninsured costs may never be known. One of the largest insurers of property in Canada, Intact Financial Corporation, raised premiums by 15 to 20 percent as a result of heavy losses from climate-related claims. Some home owners are simply denied coverage if they live in areas newly identified as prone to flooding.

Hurricane Sandy a wake-up call

In the United States in 2012, the arrival of Hurricane Sandy caused $65 billion in destruction to the US Atlantic coast — happily for the insurance companies, less than half was insured. The storm, however, has forced some property owners in New York and New Jersey to confront the options of moving away from shorelines, elevating their homes, or paying flood insurance premiums of as much as $31,000 a year (Associated Press, January 29/13). The same year’s drought in the US Midwest did $20 billion in crop damage, of which $17 billion was insured.

Outside Canada and the United States, the indications of extreme weather are repeated — except the numbers are correspondingly larger. Munich Re, one of the world’s largest re-insurance companies, has been using the best meteorologists, hydrologists, geologists and geophysicists available to understand and predict the increasing number of extreme weather events it has been noting since the 1970s, well before climate change became a term of common usage. Their insurance rates are rising as their actuarial studies reveal a clear indication of increasing risk from extreme weather.

Extreme heat making waves too

Material damage, however, is just the surface of the problem for the insurance industry. Because it will insure everything from homes and crops to product delivery and sporting events, anything that creates uncertainty adds to risk and affects insurance rates. So heat waves that are now predicted to occur every two or three years in the US Midwest and central Europe, according to Munich Re’s research, mean that premiums for insuring anything remotely related — from soybean crops to shipping schedules — will have to rise accordingly. Because Southeast Asia is expected to experience the same heat events, except every one or two years, the complicating effects must be anticipated as more expensive insurance.

Droughts are particularly insidious — such as the 2011 one in Somalia — because they are usually persistent, with consequences that can be both devastating and widespread. As Josette Sheeran of the World Food Program noted, victims have three options: they can riot, migrate, or die. Regardless, they throw social, political and economic stability of local, adjoining and distant countries into turmoil — climate refugees, for example, send waves of disturbances around the world. The successive droughts in Russia in 2010 and 2011 caused a global grain shortage that threw international food prices into pandemonium, and have been connected to the Arab uprisings that are still echoing throughout the Middle East. These unanticipated conditions are precisely the unknowns that insurers can only address by increasing the price of premiums.

As weather becomes more extreme and unpredictable, the whole system of payment for risk becomes more expensive. Every claim that is paid by the insurance industry is recorded somewhere in a Great Actuarial Ledger to become additional costs forwarded to future policy holders — most of whom do not realize that these increased premiums are actually carbon taxes.

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Giant Mine clean-up involves freezing underground arsenic

Giant Mine clean-up involves freezing underground arsenic

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Clean-up-of-Canada's-most-toxic-mine-involves-freezing-underground-arsenic
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

By Bob Weber, The Canadian Press

YELLOWKNIFE – Plans to clean up what may be Canada’s worst toxic site are moving ahead with changes suggested by those who live beside Yellowknife’s Giant Mine.

Last summer, a northern environmental regulator told the federal cabinet that it wasn’t entirely happy with Ottawa’s plans for the mine, which holds millions of tonnes of arsenic-contaminated waste on the shores of Great Slave Lake.

The Mackenzie Valley Review Board agreed freezing the underground arsenic in place is probably the best solution.

But it sided with aboriginal groups, territorial politicians and the City of Yellowknife, who have strong reservations with the federal plan.

The board eventually recommended an independent watchdog be created to supervise the dangerous cleanup. And it wanted ongoing research funded to find a permanent way to deal with the former gold mine’s deadly legacy, as well as the health and environmental effects of the cleanup.

It also disagreed with federal plans to maintain the frozen arsenic in perpetuity, pointing out forever is a long time. said the board’s report last June:

[quote]The public (does) not have any confidence the (government) can be trusted to fund and actively manage the site forever as proposed.[/quote]

The board recommended a 100-year limit on the time the arsenic can be kept frozen underground. It also said the plan must be reviewed every 20 years.

All those suggestions have survived a consultation process with federal bureaucrats, and have made it into the final draft of the board’s recommendations, submitted this week.

“The board carefully weighed what it got from those parties,” said board manager Alan Ehrlich. “We believe that their underlying interests remain in the recommended measures.”

The recommendations now go before Northern Development Minister Bernard Valcourt.

That document is the result of consultations that began in 2008. It proposes the freezing of 237,000 tonnes of highly toxic and soluble arsenic underground, with 65 kilometres of refrigerating pipes running through cavernous subterranean storage chambers.

There are also 13.5 million tonnes of arsenic-contaminated tailings on the land above. The 95-hectare site contains many structures that are further contaminated with arsenic and other poisons, from asbestos to dioxins.

Some of the structures are in such bad shape the government was forced to apply for emergency permits to take them down last summer before toxins were released.

The latest cost estimate for the entire project is $903 million — all which will be paid by taxpayers.

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Will thorium save us from climate change?

Will thorium save us from climate change?

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Will thorium save us from climate change?

As knowledge about climate change increases, so does demand for clean energy. Technologies like solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, tidal and biofuels, along with energy-grid designs that will help us take advantage of renewables, are part of the equation, as is conservation.

But many argue that, despite Fukushima and other disasters, nuclear is the best option to reduce carbon emissions fast enough to avoid catastrophic climate change. Because of problems with radioactive waste, meltdown risks and weapons proliferation, some say we must develop safer nuclear technologies.

Even eminent climate scientists like James Hansen claim we can’t avoid nuclear if we want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Hansen, a former NASA scientist, with Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution, Kerry Emanuel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Tom Wigley of Australia’s University of Adelaide, wrote an open letter last year stating, “the time has come for those who take the threat of global warming seriously to embrace the development and deployment of safer nuclear power systems.”

“Safe” Nuclear: Is there such a thing

What are “safer nuclear power systems”? And are they the answer?

Proposed technologies include smaller modular reactors, reactors that shut down automatically after an accident and molten salt reactors. Some would use fuels and coolants deemed safer. (Industry proponents argue the low incidence of nuclear accidents means current technology is safe enough. But the costs and consequences of an accident, as well as problems such as containing highly radioactive wastes, provide strong arguments against building new reactors with current technology.)

The Thorium option

One idea is to use thorium instead of uranium for reactor fuel. Thorium is more abundant than uranium. Unlike uranium, it’s not fissile; that is, it can’t be split to create a nuclear chain reaction, so it must be bred through nuclear reactors to produce fissile uranium.

Thorium-fuelled reactors produce less waste, and while some trace elements in spent uranium fuels remain radioactive for many thousands of years, levels in spent thorium fuels drop off much faster. China and Canada are working on a modified Canadian design that includes thorium along with recycled uranium fuel. With the right type of reactor, such as this design or the integral fast reactor, meltdown risks are reduced or eliminated.

Thorium can be employed in a variety of reactor types, some of which currently use uranium – including heavy water reactors like Canada’s CANDU. But some experts say new technologies, such as molten salt reactors, including liquid fluoride thorium reactors, are much safer and more efficient than today’s conventional reactors.

So why aren’t we using them?

Thorium’s downsides

Although they may be better than today’s reactors, LFTRs still produce radioactive and corrosive materials, they can be used to produce weapons and we don’t know enough about the impacts of using fluoride salts. Fluoride will contain a nuclear reaction, but it can be highly toxic, and deadly as fluorine gas. And though the technology’s been around since the 1950s, it hasn’t been proven on a commercial scale. Countries including the U.S., China, France and Russia are pursuing it, but in 2010 the U.K.’s National Nuclear Laboratory reported that thorium claims are “overstated”.

It will also take a lot of time and money to get a large number of reactors on-stream – some say from 30 to 50 years. Given the urgent challenge of global warming, we don’t have that much time. Many argue that if renewables received the same level of government subsidies as the nuclear industry, we’d be ahead at lower costs. Thorium essentially just adds another fuel option to the nuclear mix and isn’t a significant departure from conventional nuclear. All nuclear power remains expensive, unwieldy and difficult to integrate with intermittent renewables – and carries risks for weapons proliferation.

Renewable energy still the best option

If the choice is between keeping nuclear power facilities running or shutting them down and replacing them with coal-fired power plants, the nuclear option is best for the climate. But, for now, investing in renewable energy and smart-grid technologies is a faster, more cost-effective and safer option than building new nuclear facilities, regardless of type.

That doesn’t mean we should curtail research into nuclear and other options, including thorium’s potential to improve the safety and efficiency of nuclear facilities. But we must also build on the momentum of renewable energy development, which has been spurred by its safety, declining costs and proven effectiveness.

With contributions from David Suzuki Foundation Senior Editor Ian Hanington. 

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Alberta-wild-horse-round-up-tramples-on-cowboy-culture

Alberta’s wild horse round up tramples on cowboy culture

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Alberta-wild-horse-round-up-tramples-on-cowboy-culture
A recent wild horse cull in Australia (photo: animaljusticeparty.org)

Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press

CALGARY – Alberta’s decision to cull its wild horse population is at odds with the province’s western heritage, say critics who want the plan cancelled immediately.

One licence has already been issued by Alberta Environment to capture up to 200 feral horses in the central Alberta area around Sundre.

That angers opponents who worry that many of the horses are destined for slaughterhouses or will die during the roundup.

Said Anita Virginello, one of about 50 protesters in Calgary on Thursday:

[quote]Why are we killing our horses? We live in Alberta. We pride ourselves on horse culture, we’re home to the Calgary Stampede, numerous rodeos and ranches.[/quote]

She suggested it is hypocritical for Alberta to promote its cowboy culture when the province is “the horse slaughter capital of Canada.”

“There’s duplicity in that and it has to change.”

Government: Time to rein in wild horse population problem

The government says the feral horse population is continuing to balloon and numbers need to be balanced.

Said Carrie Sancartier, a spokeswoman for Alberta Environment and Sustainable Development:

[quote]It’s actually a capture…not a cull. What we’re trying to do is balance the users of the grassland in that area.[/quote]

“The feral horses eat the grass, but (so do) wildlife such as deer and elk, and this grass is quite sensitive to overgrazing, so we have put in place a capture season to remove a small portion of the feral horses.”

Sancartier said the number of horses in the Sundre area increased to 980 last year from 778 the year before. The department is confident about the count, which is done at the same time every year by helicopter, she said.

The horses are descendants of domestic animals used in logging and mining operations in the early 1900s.

More science needed before cull

Joe Anglin, environment critic for the Opposition Wildrose party, said there isn’t enough scientific evidence to support a cull.

“We don’t have answers to any questions and now they’re going to move forward and cull the herd,” said Anglin, who represents the Sundre area in the legislature.

“If there’s about 1,000 horses … what’s the appropriate size of the herd for the habitat and what we have? How do you make a decision if you don’t know if the habitat and the range can sustain the existing size?”

The Alberta government last issued a capture order in 2011 and 216 horses were removed. Sancartier understands that some people are upset.

“It is very emotional and we certainly understand that, but we’re also trying to manage the resource for all users, the feral horses as well as wildlife and livestock.”

Anglin said most Albertans are probably opposed to the plan.

“A lot of Albertans identify with the horse culture. It’s something that’s sort of germane to our past of independence and strength.

“It fits into the Alberta psyche, so there’s a lot of emotion attached to the issue.”

The roundup is being allowed until March 1.

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