This week, the Canadian government will be in Bonn touting Canada’s climate plan. It will be joined by Canadian oil companies working to put a green hue on Canadian tarsands – but the world shouldn’t be fooled.
The truth is, Canada cannot yet meet its own arguably weak climate targets. The country plans to expand oil and gas production despite evidence that this is inconsistent with Paris goals. Then, there is the issue of the toxic sludge of waste products from Canada’s tar sands destruction, which form what are known as tailings ponds.
As of this year, these ponds hold 1 trillion litres of sludge that is unlike any other industrial by-product in the world. They contain a unique cocktail of toxic chemicals and hydrocarbons that will remain in molasses-like suspension for centuries if left alone.
These open, unlined ponds currently cover 220 sq km, an area of land equivalent to 73 New York Central Parks. A single tailings pond – the Mildred Lake Settling Basin – has been identified by the US Department of the Interior as the world’s largest dam.
Also note that the same oil companies who produce these poisonous oil-bogs are constantly saturating Canadian media throughout the country with bright and sunny advertisements, trying to normalize what they do and get people thinking that they’re “environmentally conscious” when in reality they’re absolutely legendary for cutting corners, bypassing legal regulations, buying politicians, attempting to sway elections at every level by exploiting media monopolies, and outright poisoning or displacing people to get at the oil under their land.
Canada’s most shameful environmental secret must not remain hidden | Tzeporah Berman
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