07) WHICH IS THE REAL TARSANDS HOAX?

By Kimball Cariou

     There was a minor uproar at the end of May, with the release of a video clip claiming that Peter Jackson, director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, would supposedly use the Alberta tar sands to film part of his upcoming feature The Hobbit. Apparently these scenes would be set in Mordor, the bleak and terrifying region of Middle Earth ruled by Sauron.

     To LOTR fans (true confession: I have read both the trilogy and The Hobbit several times), the story sounded strange. The Hobbit does include chapters in dark forests and deep mines, but not Mordor. In the end, the whole thing was exposed as a hoax, designed to draw attention to the environmental and human damages caused by the tar sands projects.

     Did the hoax work? Or did it make environmentalists seem willing to lie to achieve their goals? I have my own opinion, but I leave it up to readers to decide for themselves.

     Somewhat lost in the debate was a far more chilling deception, carried out by the Harper Conservatives. According to Postmedia News reports, the federal government deliberately excluded data showing a 20 per cent increase in annual pollution from the tar sands industry in 2009.

     The data was kept out of a report on climate change and Canada's greenhouse gas emissions submitted to the United Nations. The report showed a six per cent drop in annual emissions for the entire economy from 2008 to 2009, but does not directly note the extent of emissions from the oilsands production, which is greater than the amount of all the cars driven on Canadian roads.

     The data also indicated that emissions per barrel of oil produced by the sector are increasing, despite advertising claims made by the industry.

     "The oilsands remain Canada's fastest-growing source of greenhouse gas pollution, and they're the subject of a huge amount of attention and scrutiny in Canada and internationally," said Clare Demerse, director of climate change at the Pembina Institute, an Alberta-based environmental research group. "So it's very disappointing to see Environment Canada publish a 500-page report that leaves out these critical numbers - especially when last year's edition included them."

     According to Environment Canada estimates, the tar sands industry was responsible for about 6.5% of annual greenhouse gas emissions in 2009, up from five per cent in 2008. Emissions from this industry have climbed about 300% since 1990, effectively cancelling out reductions by other economic sectors.

     The report says the 6% decrease in overall emissions is partly due to the recent economic crisis, and also to a reduction of coal-fired electricity in Ontario.

     An Environment Canada spokesperson told Postmedia that "some" of the missing information was still available in other reports, and argued that reporting requirements for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are divided into "broad, international sectors." But the department did not say which politicians or bureaucrats decided to exclude the tar sands emission numbers.

     According to Greg Stringham, vice-president of oilsands and markets at the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, "We report the information to them, and they choose to pass it on - they must pass it on the UN. But then they choose how to disclose it and put it out there."

     Last fall, media reports revealed that the Harper government had set up a partnership with the Alberta government, the industry and several federal departments to fight emission-reduction policies from other countries that target the tar sands. The latest news indicates that the Tory lobbying and public relations strategy continues to delay international action to fight climate change.

(The above article is from the June 16-30, 2011, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)