The industry is saying they will put the sand back in the mining pit when there done and help re-create vegetation on the land. They have already done so, there is a part of land that used to be part of the Oil Sands and now is land were buffalo graze.The industry promises to leave land not masses of dirt when they are done, but when will that be ? It will probably take decades and by then the damaged will be done.
Picture lush beautiful boreal forest, boreal forest are made up of many trees,wetlands and fresh water.Picture all the different animals , wetlands have a large variety of animals they provide habitats for. Now picture a chunk of that land the size of half of Norway trees being cut down and animal habitats being destroyed. The Dene people saw this happen to land they felt was theirs. I'm not going to sat that the land that the Oil Sands now are on belongs to the Dene people because I've never seen the treaty, but I will say that in the treaty it says that the Dene people have the right to fish and hunt on that land. As a result of the vast size of the Oil Sands they can't do what was promised to them in the treaty.
Before I get to far in the gray area of Aboriginal land claims I'll get back to the science of things. As a member of the Canadian public its so hard to know that exact environmental damage of the Oil Sands. We know there is air pollution, but is it causing cancer,fish deformities and toxic leaks in rivers?
David Suzuki says, "It's hard to know who to believe, the government says the Tar sands don't pollute the water but scientists outside the government say that's wrong. But science is based on fact and there can only be one version of the facts right"?
Next Monday I'll inform you of scientist David Schindlers effort so far to uncover the truth about the environmental impact of the Oil Sands.
-D
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