13 November 2006Calgary SunTarina White
Alberta’s oil sands are the country’s single biggest contributor to global warming, according to a national report released today by World Wildlife Fund Canada and the Sage Centre.
Julia Langer, director of WWF’s Global Threats program, said the oil sands are the country’s largest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions.
And as the main subscriber to Alberta’s Athabasca River, which is diminishing at a worrying pace due to global warming, the oil sands are delivering a double blow to the environment, she said.
“They’re literally creating a global warming problem, which is creating a fresh water problem,” said Langer.
“We have to break this quite ironic and tragic cycle of just creating more global warming.”
Today's report, titled Implications of a 2 C global temperature rise on Canada’s water resources, shows water flows in the Athabasca River have already decreased by about 20% in the last four decades as a result of climate change.
Continued heavy demand on the water source from the oil sands doesn’t bode well for the environment, people or wildlife, said Langer.
Water allocations by Alberta to oil sands projects on the Athabasca River now add up to 359 million cubic metres per year — twice the amount of water required for Calgary.
David Pryce, vice-president of Western Canada operations for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said each year the oil sands uses 1% of the Athabasca River’s flow.
Annual water usage from the Athabasca is expected to increase to 3% when currently planned oil sands projects proceed, he added.
But Pryce said the industry is actively seeking alternatives to fresh water use, including salt water.
“We certainly recognize that there is a need on the part of everybody to be doing more around managing fresh water use,” said Pryce.
He said Alberta oil producers recycle as much as 90% of the water used each year, and in the last two decades fresh water use in the oil sands has been reduced by 50%.
The report recommends a moratorium on further oil sands projects until the water problems can be solved.
