Report: Tar Sands Mining Pollution Far Worse Than Industry Reports

The amount of pollutants being emitted from tar sands extraction sites in Alberta is far higher than industry-reported estimates, according to research published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Using predictive computer models, University of Toronto Environmental Chemistry professor Frank Wania and his PhD candidate Abha Parajulee found that officially reported emissions of the atmospheric pollutants known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) do not factor in “indirect pathways” of pollution, such as those which blow off mining sites or evaporate from tailings ponds.

The scientists report that, according to their models, evaporation from tailings ponds—lakes of polluted byproduct created through tar sands processing—may actually introduce more potentially carcinogenic PAHs into the atmosphere than direct emissions.

Further, the higher levels of PAHs recorded by the models are consistent with previous pollution samples taken from in and around the Athabasca Oil Sands Region, throwing into question industry-reported estimates which did not take these alternate “pathways” into account.

According to the findings, actual levels of emissions into the air may be as much as two to three orders-of-magnitude greater—or one hundred to one thousand times greater—than previously estimated.

According to the study,