Canada scrapes the bottom of the barrel
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By Daniel Nelson
H2Oil looks at Canada’s tar sands development – “akin to building the Pyramids or China’s Great Wall, only bigger”, according to the Prime Minister – and sounds the alarm. The oil sands contain an estimated 175 billion barrels of recoverable crude. To get it out of the grounds means turning a lush natural landscape bitumen covering 149,000 square kilometres into a moonscape, then separating the bitumen. That process requires huge amounts of water – four barrels of glacier-fed spring water for every barrel of oil. The toxic wastewater is dumped in tailing ponds, “every one of which leaks, every day, 24 hours a day”. (“If any of these tailings ponds ever burst the world would forever forget about the Exxon Valdez.”) Local communities say they are suffering an epidemic of cancers, and fear that ultimately they will be forced to relocate. The film’s website says the tar sands create a larger environmental footprint than all other forms of oil extraction. “The massive changes to the boreal forest and the watershed have prompted the United Nations to list this region as a global hot spot for environmental change. In addition, oil sands projects are major emitters of greenhouse gases. They accounted for 4 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2005, making it impossible to meet obligations set out in Kyoto for emissions-reductions.” The Alberta state government and the federal government in Ottawa say everything is fine and are hell-bent on continuing the development. To them, this is a project offering seemingly limitless economic growth, to be marketed aggressively and proudly – “a testament to the spirit of investment and entrepreneurial drive”. Both sides are quoted in the film, which focuses on one community, Fort Chipewyan. It’s heartbreaking, frustrating stuff as the viewer sees gung-ho “official” Canada excitedly counting the profits and dismissively brushing aside talk of side-effects (one refers to “silk-suited environmentalists who don’t know the facts”), and the fearful, teary-eyed community watching their lives disintegrate, along with one of the world’s natural beauty spots. The fight can get vicious. There are powerful conflicts of interest, with oil company executives appointed as senior officials in the arm of government responsible for promoting the tar sands. Health Canada accuses a local doctor of “causing undue alarm”, threatening to end his career, because he voices concern about health trends in the area. This is the frontline of a battle being fought around the world. The oil sands are rapidly becoming the largest industrial complex in history, with investment totalling $30 billion, and the weight of Big Oil and Big Money has so far crushed the people (a few of them perhaps even wearing silk suits) who have a different view of the world, and who see greedy short-sightedness leading to industrial catastrophe. This film is one small slingshot in the struggle. * On 15 June June 15, there will be screenings of the film across the UK: Acton Birmingham Bristol Longwell Green Camberley Cambridge Cheshire Oaks Dublin Edinburgh Omni Finchley Road Fulham Harrow Inverness Islington Leeds Light Norwich Screen R Oxford Plymouth Reading Westfield York |
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