Tar sands pollution to spread east, says report

Oil production in the Albertan tar sands could have an adverse effect on the Great Lakes Basin region, 1,700 miles to the east, according to a report from the University of Toronto. The Program on Water Issues, part of the University’s Munk Centre for International Studies, has warned that the side effects of refining "dirty’" oil from the region could put back attempts to clean up the lakes by decades.

Several pipeline projects are in development, designed to transfer oil derived from the tar sands to refineries in the Great Lakes area, closer to destination markets, the report says. Many of the refineries are being prepared for expansion to cope with the influx of Albertan oil. The oil needs extra refining because it is found in bitumen, a sandy substance that requires steam treatment. It will be upgraded to synthetic light crude to make it transferable via the pipelines. Some $31bn (£18.3bn) has been earmarked for investment in the supply chain by 2015.

Abdication of responsibility on both sides of the border has led to a lack of environmental oversight, the report added, suggesting that the refining of tar sands oil sent by pipeline from Alberta could have an adverse impact on the Great Lakes region. Acid rain is a particular concern, according to report author David Israelson.

“The causes are sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. They are emitted by refineries and I know that we take measures to mitigate them. Nevertheless, if we expand the refineries, we end up with more emissions than we contemplated when we brought in the Clean Air Act in 1990,” Israelson said. The report includes an appendix detailing how refineries can under-report emissions.

The report also criticised Canada’s government for a disconnect between provincial and federal oversight within its own borders. The Ontario government is failing to ask the right questions about the environmental impact of oil production on the Great Lakes, it said.