Oilsands pollution study reveals new 'blind spot' in industry reporting

New research has found that a complex form of air pollution from Alberta's oilsands has gone largely unreported — and the impacts to downwind habitats are "entirely unknown."

The peer-reviewed study, led by researchers with Environment Canada and Yale University, investigated the fate of carbon pollution from the industry by measuring plumes of pollution pumped out from industrial sites in northern Alberta.

Alberta government officials say the research is part of their ongoing efforts to better understand gas-phase organic carbon, a volatile source of oilsands contamination.

Critics say the findings are another blot on Alberta's environmental record that demands immediate action from the provincial regulator.

The research, published this month in Science Advances, delves into the spread of organic carbon emissions through a process known as dry deposition.

The study, which relied on research flights over the oilpatch, sheds new light on how far and fast such pollution is spreading, and calls attention to blind spots in our understanding of the airborne contamination.

'Back down on the surface'

Carbon contamination from dry deposition is a "major unaccounted" source of pollution, researchers found. And the impact of these substances once they settle on surrounding habitats, particularly the region's fragile freshwater ecosystems, remains a question mark.

"The impact of ... dry deposition to these systems is entirely unknown," the study says.

The ultimate fate of these carbon pollutants and how they are interacting with forests, wetlands and communities downwind of the oilsands plumes needs to be explored, said John Liggio, a federal research scientist and the study's lead author.

"We don't really know what's going on in terms of the potential impact. And that's something that we need to be looking at," said Liggio.

"A lot of this pollution ends up back down on the surface."

Dry deposition is the process by which various types of air pollution are spread by weather conditions and shifting winds without precipitation.

It's of particular concern in the oilsands, where air pollution from a vast landscape of open pit mines, tailings ponds and smokestacks can be transported hundreds of kilometres to neighbouring communities and thousands of freshwater lakes within the surrounding boreal forest.

The chemicals tracked in the study include a vast pool of volatile organic compounds that transform and oxidate as they move through the atmosphere. They include black carbon and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are dangerous to human health.

Such contamination can also alter the chemical composition of an ecosystem and trigger unwelcome chain reactions — causing toxic algae to bloom, stunting trees or turning water dangerously acidic.

"We know that there are potentially toxic compounds in the mix," Liggio said. "Someone has to go and study what impact that has, because all of them will ultimately be deposited downwind."

Research in flight

The study, funded by government and industry, relied on data collected during a series of flyovers in 2013 and 2018 above major surface and in-situ sites, and downwind of the mines at various altitudes.

Those measurements were then compared to ground-based data reported by operators.

Current emissions inventories are failing to accurately track these complex chemical reactions, Liggio said.

The emissions levels reported by operators are typically calculated based on estimates for each industrial activity on site. Current models assume a "nonexistent or negligible" contribution from atmospheric deposition, the study said.

But when measuring from the sky, researchers found the numbers didn't add up. Researchers found that considerable plumes of pollution are being carried far downwind of their source and falling faster than expected, he said.

"The amount that's depositing right now is much greater than what the models, the original models, were telling us," Liggio said.

Some compounds were underestimated or completely omitted by current reporting models, the findings suggest.

"Either the rates or the actual nature of those chemical reactions may not be properly included in the model, if they're included at all," he said.

"The bigger molecules actually do deposit significantly …and the models currently do not include those at all."

Pollution underestimated

The research was undertaken to better understand the results of a previous study that found that the oilsands pump out far more carbon-based emissions than reported by industry.

The researchers' previous paper found that carbon emission levels were between 20 and 64 times higher than reported, with the daily output on par with megacities like Los Angeles.

Liggio and his team wanted to understand where the untracked pollution was ending up.

WATCH | Oilsands facilities emitting unreported air pollutants: 

They found that deposition was concentrated within a 100-kilometre radius of the oilsands, decreasing rapidly beyond 200 kilometres. It took about four hours for about 63 per cent of the emissions to fall to ground.

"About 60 per cent to 70 per cent of everything that we showed in the previous paper that was emitted ends up depositing back down to the surface, in one form or another," he said.

"More surprising is how quickly it ends up coming right back down."

Liggio said researchers are working with industry and government partners to determine how their findings can improve reporting methods. He said part of that work will involve getting more accurate data from operators on the pollution their various operations are emitting.

He said detailing pollution from the source is essential.

"[It's] a blind spot in terms of the chemical composition of things," he said.

"You can't physically be in all places all the time. And so we rely on models to be able to predict concentrations of pollutants in a broader area … But what you really need to do is make sure the model is correct."

Monitoring at the source

Mandy Olsgard, a risk assessment specialist and former senior environmental toxicologist with the Alberta Energy Regulator, called on the study authors to demand better data on emissions from industry operators.

Better emission monitoring is needed at the source and operators should be compelled to provide it, Olsgard said.

"Seeing studies like this consistently year-over-year, month-over-month being published by government researchers, with little to no uptake by regulatory or policy agencies, is just frustrating, endlessly frustrating.

"They're making recommendations like academics, not like policymakers and regulators, which they are."

She said the findings should be immediately reflected in project approvals, and should also trigger new monitoring programs.

"There's no focus on monitoring the chemicals that are moving into the environment, how they're moving through food webs and how different receptors — wildlife, fish and people — are being exposed.

"Should we even be looking at receptors in the environment to tell us if the oilsands are doing well when we don't even know what's coming out of an oil sands mine? It's nonsensical."

Officials with Alberta Environment declined to participate in an interview but provided a statement lauding the research.

Ryan Fournier, press secretary for Rebecca Schulz, Alberta's environment minister, said gas-phase organic compounds are difficult to monitor due to their reactivity.

"Little is currently known about the impact they have on the environment, which is why we supported this study. This research is yet another example of how we continue to improve environmental protections," Fournier said.

The ministry declined to answer questions about how the research could result in regulatory changes.

The AER declined to comment, directing questions from CBC to Alberta Environment.

David Spink, a former director of air and water approvals for Alberta, said the findings are disconcerting and should prompt the province to tighten its reporting rules.

Spink, now an environmental consultant whose work includes air quality monitoring near Fort McKay First Nation, north of Fort McMurray, said the study is sure to raise questions within downwind communities.

He said the findings underscore the value of ongoing investment in innovative research into our assumptions about the scale of industrial pollution.

"We often get a little complacent that we're monitoring for the right things in the right way," he said.

"We're missing something … Maybe we haven't been looking hard enough."