I've been away from this blog for a couple of weeks, immersed in the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival.  And look what I've come back to!  There's been a ton of activity around the Athabasca Tar Sands to catch up with.  So this blog is my attempt to do that.

RETHINK ALBERTA

First of all, Rethink Alberta.  Back on July 14 2010, San Francisco based company Corporate Ethics launched a campaign called Rethink Alberta.  The campaign encourages tourists who are thinking about visiting Alberta to boycott this Canadian province because of Alberta and Canada's failure to provide environmental stewardship in its exploitation of this local energy resource.  The campaign was understandably not well-received here. The Rethink Alberta team were accused of picking the wrong target in their boycott call; the argument that Rethink Alberta unfairly attacks the 100,000 Albertans who work in tourism has been persuasive here.  But I support the boycott call, even though it affects my own livelihood and standard of living in Alberta.

Clearly Corporate Ethics  and Rethink Alberta is in for the long haul.  This week the organization launched its Rethink Alberta campaign in the United Kingdom. Eleven massive digital billboards, like this one in Camden, have gone up in London alone, and Corporate Ethics are taking out ads on the U.K.'s most popular websites.

The U.K. campaign is focussed and substantial. And this will have an effect.  Awareness of the tar sands has skyrocketed in the last year, and the effect is exponential.  As much as the energy industry and its apologists want to make this a "Tree-hugger Versus Business" issue, the debate has shifted.  Climate change is considered a genuine and pressing threat in Europe. And there are activists across the political spectrum, as parents and grandparents, as shareholders of banks and energy companies, working to raise awareness and create change.  The U.K. newspaper the Daily Mail is traditionally a middle-class, conservative journal, and has realized that many of its older readers are concerned about this issue.  These are people who own shares and hold pensions with companies who invest heavily in the tar sands, and they want it to change. Today's story about the discovery of oil sands in the Arctic is reported as a mixed blessing. When the Daily Mail is doing this kind of reporting, I'd say a paradigm shift is happening.

THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT

So what is the Canadian Federal Government's response? Bear in mind that the Canadian Federal government is a minority Conservative government that's lasted six years, with a strong historical power base in Alberta.  Here's federal Environment Minster Jim Prentice, formerly the Minister of Industry. 

Jim seems like a decent guy, but has made no bones that he considers the economic success of oil sands mining fundamental to Canadian economic growth.  In fact, if you look at his public statements over the last couple of years you might be forgiven for thinking that he's still Industry Minister.  I think Jim's spotted this, he apparently "Put the boots to the industry" back in February, but if you read his speech it's unclear and confusing. He attempts to display independence from the energy industry while at the same time reassuring it.  Careful, Jim. Bending over backwards that far can snap you in half.

The sad reality is that Canadian governments, and I include the previous LIberal administration, have let this situation drift for too long.  The current government are unwilling to make changes, and I suspect that they are unable to make changes.  The level of investment in the tar sands is too great, and the damage already done to the forests, the water table, to the health of the local population, is too massive to fix. We're in too deep, and we need return on our investment before we can attempt to fix the ghastly mess.

Another example from the Federal Government position.  Two and a half years ago the government commissioned a cross-party Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development.  This was meant to be a comprehensive report studying the impact of oil sands development on Canada's freshwater. The committee heard testimony from industry, First Nations, a host of renowned water scientists and environmental groups.  The Alberta government refused to testify, which speaks for itself. 

So where's the Report? Surely they must be finished by now.  Sorry, bad news. In July 2010 the committee was cancelled, and all drafts of the report were shredded.  The members of the committee could not reach consensus. Luckily, all that work wasn't wasted.  The testimony given to the committee is on public record. Journalist Andrew Nikiforuk has read all the testimony (so we don't have to).  His July article What Those Who Killed The Tars Sands Report Don't Want You To Know is essential reading.

Last week the Liberal Party released their own scathing report based on the testimony, accusing industry and government of being in a state of denial about the consequences of oil sands development.

THE ALBERTA GOVERNMENT

Okay, that's the Canadian Federal Government. But what about the Alberta Provincial Government? Well, back in July after the initial release of the Rethink Alberta campaign, there was talk from Alberta of fighting back aggressively with the truth.  Followed by a deafening silence. I'm guessing the provincial government got better advice.  The problem with fighting back with the truth is that the truth looks really bad right now.  I've said it here, and many others have said it; Alberta doesn't have a public relations problem, it has an environmental impact problem.

The reality is that the energy industry has had a free ride in this province for decades, and they have a huge amount of catch-up to do.  Legislation and standards are ignored. Environment Canada is unable to do what Canadians imagine should be their job. Inspection and monitoring has devolved to the province, and the province has devolved its work to the industry, who now mutually monitor each others work, a strategy that didn't work great with the Deep Horizon Gulf Spill.  

In Alberta, energy companies are commonly given exemptions from their own agreed clean-up standards. The Alberta Environmental Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) is supposed to regulate the energy industry according to environmental protection laws passed by the government of Alberta.  A recent directive from the ERCB requires that oil sands operators clean up at least 50 per cent of their "fine tailings" -- mining by-products containing clay, bitumen, and a cocktail of toxic waste -- by June 30 2013.   Sounds good. So what's the problem?  Well, the first approval under this new directive has been granted to Syncrude, who have a plan that diverts less than 15 per cent.  The ERCB claims that this compromise was necessary, and was granted with the understanding that Syncrude will exceed future benchmarks using as yet unimplemented and uninvented reclamation techniques.  Bear in mind that Syncrude's plan goes to 2060. By then they'll have come up with a way to change deadly napthene to maple syrup, I guess.  This Syncrude exemption may be challenged in court.

So what's the point of having directives and hearings if exemptions from Aberta's environmental regulations are the rule, not the exception?  Public percepton. Spin.  You might be interested to hear that the "tailings ponds" created by oil sands productions are actually vast toxic lakes.  Alberta has the the dubious honour of being home to the largest dam in the world, the Syncrude Tailings Dam, a cool 540,000,000 cubic metres.  It's twice as big as the nearest contender.

So here's what Alberta's doing.  Their brilliant strategy is to advertise INSIDE Alberta. The stated intent is to influence and "educate" Albertans, with the idea that Albertans will become disciples of the "truth" about the oilsands industry. Spending public money to make us all Spin Doctors is an incredibly weak strategy. It's a typical ossified old line response.  

Rethink Alberta understand how to do it. Well placed ads on Youtube that reach younger people on the web.  These young people are the policy makers of the future.  And they are media savvy and critical.  They don't just see the Rethink Alberta ad and take it as truth.  They do more research, and the reality is that there is a lot of reliable scientific research that trashes Alberta's reputation. 

So what can Alberta do to be effective?  An ad campaign isn't enough.  They have to respond with action. Deeds, not words.

I'm looking forward to seeing Prime Minister Harper, Alberta's Premier Stelmach and the CEO of Syncrude drinking recycled tailings water straight out of the pipe, proving it's clean.   Until then, it's all distraction and games while the business of mining bitumen and destroying forests, animals and land continues.