Alberta's oil sands development - the new smallpox blankets for natives?

EDMONTON, Alberta, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- A Canadian Indian rights advocate claims oil sands development in Alberta is akin to genocide from water contamination on reservation lands.

Speaking at a conference in Edmonton Sunday, Mike Mercredi, 33, said death rates at the Fort Chipewyan reservation's 1,200 people 400 miles northeast of Edmonton were on the rise, the Edmonton Sun reported.

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Referring to the oil sands development upstream from the reservation on the Athabasca River, Mercredi said it was akin to the decimating smallpox epidemics when Europeans first arrived in the Prairies.

"We're facing another form of biological warfare and it's killing us off," he told the conference. "It's genocide. They know it's there but they're denying it."

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/11/24/Indians_Oil_sands_development_genocide/UPI-32661227541621/

In most mining operations, harsh chemicals are needed to separate the minerals from the sand or rock that they are embedded in. For example, in gold or copper mining, arsenic and cyanide are often used, so tailings in those operations are extremely poisonous. In the tar sands, naphtha and paraffin are used, but they are supposed to be separated from the water before it is pumped into the tailings pond.

However, the byproducts of the petroleum itself are dangerous and known to kill the microorganisms which would ordinarily be present in a river or natural wetlands. Scientists state that the most dangerous contaminant in tar sands tailings water is naphthenic acid, a natural constituent of petroleum that becomes dissolved and concentrated in the hot water used to process the tar sands. Repeated exposure to naphthenic acid can have adverse health effects upon mammals, causing liver problems and brain hemorrhaging, and higher concentrations lead to more serious effects. Another component of the tailings is alkyl-substituted polyaromatic hydrocarbon, which causes deformities and even death to birds exposed to it.

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Naphthenic acids are persistent and hard to disperse from the environment. They are released in high concentrations from tar sands projects, so people who live downstream have serious fears about contaminated water, fish and wildlife. Mercury contamination is another risk, because when the wetlands which originally covered the tar sands are drained, high concentrations of mercury can be released into the surrounding water bodies.

Recently, people living in Fort Chipewyan (a First Nations community downstream from the tar sands projects) began to publicise their concerns about the effects of water pollution on their health. Since tar sands development has been accelerating over the past few years, they have noticed greater incidences of cancer and diseases like lupus and multiple sclerosis in their community.

http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/campaigns/tarsands/threats/water-pollution