It’s straightforward enough: other industries are probably getting less environmental scrutiny here in Alberta, now that the focus is on the oil sands.
You’ve probably read about the two-mouthed goldeye that was caught upstream of the oil sands recently. The question we want to know is whether or not such a fish would exist in the absence of the oil sands. If it weren’t the oil sands, we’d probably blame feedlots. If it weren’t feedlots, we’d probably blame pulp mills. If not them, then probably open-pit coal mine.
Anybody but ourselves.
I think it’s absolutely ludicrous to automatically pin the blame for a two-mouthed fish solely on the oil sands, because it’s not they who are to blame. We are the ones who fill up with so-called ‘dirty oil’. We are the ones who export paper, who heat our homes with electricity coming from open pit coal mines. We are the ones who bbq hormone-injected, feedlot-fed Alberta beef every summer.
I do not believe the mainstream media is a place to find critical thought. So consider the following:
1. That the fish’s second mouth was a genetic mutation, which occurs in nature from time to time.
2. That the second mouth could have come from an injury, as was the case with a certain trout in Nebraska a few years ago.
3. That the Athabasca watershed is a vast water drainage that has a host of pulp mills, feedlots, farms and other polluters.
Consider the following, taken from the Northern River Basins Study, 2002:
As the [Athabasca] river leaves the park, the rugged topography softens into rolling foothills. Coal underlies much of these foothills; covering a broad diagonal swath across the province that parallels the Rocky Mountains. Some of western Canada’s largest active open-pit coal mines are found in this region.
Further on, the Athabasca River passes the Weldwood pulp mill at Hinton, the oldest of the five mills in the Athabasca River basin. The mill relies completely on the region’s softwoods: white and black spruce, lodgepole pine and alpine fir.
The river continues north and swings eastward towards the town of Whitecourt, where it encounters the Millar Western pulp mill and the Alberta Newsprint Company. At Whitecourt, the river is joined by the McLeod River that drains areas with open pit coal mines and limestone quarries to the south. Oil and natural gas deposits are found to the north of the river, near Fox Creek and Swan Hills. In fact, one of the largest producing gas fields in the country is located in the Fox Creek area (see Section 3.2 for general information regarding oil, gas and coal developments).
Leaving Whitecourt, the Athabasca River swings north again and is joined by the Pembina River that drains through prime agricultural lands to the south. By now the waters of the Athabasca are brown from the soil and other materials that it has picked up along its course. As the physical environment changes, so too do the numbers and kinds of organisms in the river. These changes continue along the length of the river, corresponding to specific habitat and nutrient requirements of different fish and aquatic organisms.
Above: Let’s blame the oil sands, and not agriculture or forestry. Image Source
The Athabasca is joined by the Lesser Slave River, which drains the agricultural and forested areas surrounding Lesser Slave Lake. Another pulp mill, Slave Lake Pulp, is located along the banks of the Lesser Slave River.
Furthermore, the NREI Study found:
Dioxins and furans are no longer detectable in the water of the northern rivers because kraft pulp mills have changed their pulping process to reduce or eliminate them. Levels have declined in fish. Even so, NREI scientists still found traces of these chemicals in fish and river sediments immediately downstream of Hinton on the Athabasca River and Grande Prairie on the Wapiti River. The sources for these are not known, but it is possible that bottom sediments are still contaminated from previous pulp mill effluents.
In the case of the northern alberta mutant fish, it’s impossible to say whether or not the fish got that way through natural mutation, or from pulp mill sediment that’s been laying dormant in the river for dozens of years, or an injury caused by a fisherman’s hook, or from any number of causes. The truth is, we’re lazy and would like to pin the blame on someone, because that takes attention away from our own part in the process.
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Ivan prokopchuk 08.25.08 at 4:15 pm
Missprocreation among fish? The mind boggles.
I don’t know which l940’s cartoon I got this from, but it’s certainly time for
Dr. I. M. Fish (physician and sturgeon)
So I’ve got a hangover, okay?
eh 08.25.08 at 4:45 pm
I agree with you that we can’t automatically assume that the fish was the product of the carcinogenic waste being dumped into the Athabasca by oilsands operations. I think a lot of people have came to this conclusion however based on the incidence of rare cancers and diseases in the Ft. Chip area and studies indicating alarmingly high levels of toxins in the flora and fauna of the area. More research needs to be done by an impartial investigator to determine whether these ecological problems are indeed linked to open-pit and in-situ operations in the area. It’s possible the pollution is coming from somewhere else.
I also agree that individuals need to reflexively consider their role in the promotion of ecologically-hazardous industrial activities. After-all, if there were no demand for oil, we wouldn’t need the oilsands. However, I think you miss out on part of the equation.
I bet a lot of (particularly de-politicized) Albertans assume that the oilsands, coal mines, and agri-business are regulated by the provincial government to mitigate against irrevocable damage to our ecosystem. Yet, you can’t deny that that hasn’t always been the case. I wonder if more citizens in this province were aware of the size and extent of the damage associated with what is becoming the largest industrial project on earth, whether they would still (tacitly) support it’s continuation (at least at the current rate of development)? Moreover, I think a lot of people assume that the (federal or provincial) government is doing what it can to develop alternative energy projects in the face of climate change. Why wouldn’t they support innovation, given the rising price of oil and chronic shortage? Again, we know this isn’t always the case. Thus, I would argue that your preposition that people do not fully recognize their role in environmental catastrophes is correct, to the extent that it makes room for the concept of an assumptive citizenry that believes active mitigation and reclamation practices are in place, and enforced by the governments elected to represent the interests of their constituents.
Bud 08.25.08 at 10:02 pm
Excellent analysis. The interesting and sad reflection here is the state of media and journalism in our country. CBC had a story and ran with it with little or no homework and then it was picked-up. The fact that it has died as quick as it has is because I give more credit to the average person who either ignore this type of story or roll their eyes at the silly and unscientific attempt to connect the dots.
Ehs. Conclusion is interesting. Democracy allows people the right to participate or not. My interpretation of your conclusion is that people are just stupid if they silly enough to allow this industry to develop or if they assume that government acts in their interests. I am not this cynical or may I suggest elitist. People are not blind nor stupid. Alberta has the highest level of post-secondary educated citizens in the country and people who are well versed on these issues. They also are very active environmentally compared to almost every other province. However, they, like most Canadians, recognize the ability and need to balance the environment and the economy. Support by Canadians for the development of the oil sands is not done blindly - it is done with a demand for balance and prudence. As you call it “the largest industrial development on earth” (if I recall this is a take off from one of the ENGOs if I recall) is not being developed by large monolithic corporations - they are being developed by highly educated Canadians coast to coast. I might note that this demand for balance is something that most other industries - whether it is the hydro projects in Ontario and Quebec, fishery in NFLD, pulp mills of Quebec and BC of the steel mills of Ontario - developed in a previous era with no recognition or demand for such balance.