Water Quality

Edmonton — The steps of the Provincial legislature were transformed today in an attempt to give Albertans an idea of the amount of tailings, French tar sands giant Total, will create in Alberta if Total’s new mine site is approved. Representative from Greenpeace, the Rainforest Action Network and Sierra Club Prairie set-up 60, 200 litre rain barrels which is what Total will dump into Alberta’s eco-system every 30 seconds with this project. Read more about Green groups create huge visual to give Albertans a look at tailings cost of Total approval

Simon Dyer, Oil Sands Program Director at the Pembina Institute, responded to the release of the paper "Oil sands development contributes elements toxic at low concentrations to the Athabasca River and its tributaries," published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"This is the second peer-reviewed study that shows definitively that oil sands development is contributing to pollution of the Athabasca watershed. These studies clearly contradict the Government of Alberta claims that pollution in the Athabasca River is natural. Read more about Pembina reacts to study showing oil sands mines contribute heavy metals to the Athabasca River