Sierra Club of Canada

EDMONTON — Growing criticism of the Stelmach government’s and the oil industry’s air quality monitoring in communities near tar sands operations has spurred residents from the Peace and Athabasca regions to take matters into their own hands, attending independent training workshops to arm themselves with answers to the ongoing health issues plaguing their communities. Read More

Dustin Johnson, Energy Campaigner with the Sierra Club Prairie had the following comment on the sentencing of Syncrude for the death of 1603 ducks in their toxic tailings pond.

Justice was not served today. Sierra Club initiated this law suit with the hopes that is would send a message to the Tar Sands industry. The guilty verdict alone from this trial should have been enough to have industry and government commit to phase out toxic tailing lakes with a moratorium of further tar sands development until it is proven that is is possible to safely dispose of all toxins, and the completely mitigate the environmental damage done thus far. Today's sentencing did nothing to prevent Syncrude from continuing on with business as usually and rather provided them with a monetary fine of $3 million dollars - an amount this company makes in less than 16 hours.

The fact is that the death of these 1603 ducks is only one aspect of the tar sands exploitive assault on the ecosystem and people of the North. The rising cancer rates in downstream communities like Fort Chipewyan, the poisoning of the Mackenzie River Delta, and the increasing toxic contamination of wildlife are criminal acts and would be considered such if done by any entity other than a corporation. Today's sentencing shows justice for the North is still far from being served.

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Candidates running in municipal elections across Alberta overwhelmingly oppose the provincial government’s direction towards a provincial water market, and say they have not been sufficiently consulted as part of the current review of Alberta’s water allocation system, according to the results of an online survey conducted by the Our Water is Not For Sale network. Read More