Aaron Navrady

A report released last week indicates the cumulative impacts of oilsands development in Alberta could cause the loss of more than 160 million migratory birds over the next 30 to 50 years.

These birds are dependent on the boreal forest, which ranges through Canada, Russia and Scandinavia, ringing the regions immediately south of the Arctic Circle. The birds thrive in the bogs, fens, marshes, rivers, wetlands, shallow lakes and rivers of the forest and find shelter in resident spruce, fir, conifers and deciduous trees.

Despite characteristic long, severe winters and short, warm summers, Canada’s boreal forest hosts a vast array of birds including whooping cranes, buffleheads, Bohemian waxwings, Canada and blackpoll warblers, white-throated sparrows, goldeneyes, lesser scaups and a variety of jays. It is estimated that half of America’s migratory birds nest in the boreal forest, while each year up to 170 million birds breed there.

Continued and increased development of the tar sands is threatening the boreal forest and its birds in northern Alberta, according to Danger in the Nursery, a report produced by three conservation groups — the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Boreal Songbird Initiative (BSI) and the Pembina Institute. An insatiable appetite for synthetic crude oil, mainly from the U.S., is fuelling the growth of the mining, extracting and upgrading of bitumen, found mixed in the sandy soil below areas of the boreal forest.

The report outlines six main negative impacts from oilsands development on migratory birds, including 300,000 hectares of habitat loss from strip mining as well as habitat degradation and fragmentation from drilling. It also states that up to 300,000 birds are drowned annually in the oily water of oilsands tailings ponds. The report suggests a projected 50 per cent increase in water withdrawal by industry will cause wetland habitat loss. As well, it suggests birds face a myriad of negative affects from pollution and global warming caused by the production of synthetic crude oil, which creates three times the emissions of conventional crude.

David Collyer, president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, suggests numbers from the report have been exaggerated, and that the government and regulators have numbers that indicate lesser impacts. He says the industry is looking to reduce impacts, though.

“The industry remains very focused on environmental protection, and we’re taking significant steps to improve our environmental performance,” he says, “but at the same time, we have to look at the economic benefit that comes from oilsands activity and broader oil and gas activity in the province — and take a more balanced view.”

Simon Dyer of the Pembina Institute, and a contributing author to the report, argues the industry is not being regulated adequately. “Environmental protection has taken a backseat to development, and we are not on a sustainable trajectory,” he says.

Dyer thinks the province should halt new oilsands approvals until environmental limits are in place and conservation planning is complete. He says the government isn’t acting on recommendations it has already received from consultations with industry and the public. These include permanently protecting up to 40 per cent of northeastern Alberta from industrial development, implementing long-overdue policies to conserve and compensate for losses of wetlands, prohibiting the creation of new tailings ponds and focusing on solutions to current oilsands problems rather than the current public relations campaign.

Dyer says citizens need to take a more active role. “Learn about the complexity and range of issues associated with the oilsands. Expect and demand responsible oilsands development. Raise your concerns with government and industry.”