Toxic Sludge

From YesMagazine.org

How the state’s fight for clean water is reshaping its political landscape.

by Ellen Cantarow... Read more »

The Mikisew Cree First Nation is vehemently rejecting the province's latest attempt to balance oilsands production with environmental stewardship.

Adding insult to injury is the fact that the First Nation has been consulting with and providing information to the province about land-use concerns long before the land-use secretariat was created, said Melody Lepine, director of government and industry relations for the Mikisew Cree, this morning.

The province released its draft Lower Athabasca Regional Plan Wednesday, the first regional plan developed under Albertas land-use Framework. With oilsands production expected to double within the decade, the draft regional plan, said the province, will conserve more than two-million hectares of habitat for native species. It will also increase recreation and tourism opportunities, plan for infrastructure and put strict environmental limits in place for air, land disturbance and water.... Read more »

EDMONTON - David Lavallee spent 15 years guiding hikes in the Columbia Icefields but didn’t give much thought to what happened to the water that melted off the glaciers.

Then one day he was standing on the Athabasca glacier with glaciologist Shawn Marshall. Marshall talked about how the river ran to the tarsands where a huge amount of the water was used by the industry and ended up in toxic tailings ponds, which were growing exponentially.

“I was like, ‘hmm, interesting. How come I don’t know anything about this?’ I was born and raised in Edmonton. I’d always heard about the oilsands as a kid, but they were just this small project up there. Now all of a sudden they just completely took off and now we’re the caretakers of the second biggest deposit of oil on the planet.”... Read more »

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