During our action in the tar sands of northern Alberta, Canada last week we were running a Twitter and comment feed on the Stop the Tar Sands landing page - so that while people watched the live video feed of our activists they were able to send messages of support ... or condemnation. And we received lots of both.
These ranged from the general: 'Way to go, Greenpeace!' to the inevitable : 'A bunch of unwashed hippies in raincoats ain't gonna stop them'. (Just for the record we did stop them - activists shut down Shell's entire Albian mining operation during their 30+ hour occupation.)
One of the less hippie-focused criticisms that kept coming up again and again was that we weren't showing any images or videos of 'reclaimed' tar sands property - and therefore we were only showing one side of the story.
The idea that the companies currently operating in the tar sands can 'reclaim' the land they have destroyed is one of the myths that is allowing atrocious acts of negligence to be committed in the name of tar sands development.
Companies with operations in the tar sands - like Shell, Syncrude, Suncor, etc - can basically do what they like with the land based on the idea that they will then return the land to it's previous state - or in some cases, they claim to return the land in better condition then they got it. Oh yeah? Reclaim this:
Boreal forest doesn't just grow back. Especially not when you have scrapped it away, right down to the rock underneath.
However, in the spirit of responding to viewer requests - I will now show some images of tar sands land that is supposedly 'reclaimed'.
Welcome to the Syncrude bison sanctuary. The green and brown bits make up the beginning of some supposedly 'reclaimed' lands which have been turned into a bison sanctuary. The bison (did not get their on their own, but) were placed there by Syncrude - one of the largest operators in the tar sands. A small group of them huddles together in a small fenced off area in the distance, more fencing keeps visitors from getting close. Beyond the green and brown bits you see in the picture are massive toxic tailings ponds, stretching for kilometres right up to the edge of a huge industrial complex.
Smokestacks fill the sky with billowing smoke and flaring fire, and from a hill it is clear that this ugliness stretches far into the horizon. It is staggering.
The sign above reads: 'Wood Bison, a truly noble beast'.
At this point in time there have been very few attempts at reclamation in the tar sands and no site has been certified as reclaimed by Alberta Environment.
[Correction! Apologies - there has been one site issued with a reclamation certificate. "In March of 2008, Alberta designated a rolling forested area with hiking trails and lookout points as the first piece of oil sands land to be reclaimed. The Alberta government issued a reclamation certificate to Syncrude Canada Ltd. for the 104-hectare parcel of land known as Gateway Hill approximately 35 kilometres north of Fort McMurray." This site was not a mine - so there has been no reclaimation of a mining site. The site in question was a place where 'overburden' was placed - overburden is the leftovers from stripping away the boreal forest, including muskeg, soil and rocks. More info here.]
So. If no *mining site has been certified as reclaimed - then where are the noble bison roaming? They are roaming on a bit of grass next to a toxic lake in the middle of the largest industrial complex on the planet.
Another sign post at the Syncrude bison sanctuary: 'In 1996 a herd of wood bison was introduced to the reclaimed grassland you see before you (this area was once part of Syncrude's mine!)' I think this is the part where Syncrude wants the reader to be pleasantly surprised - but only a severely short-sighted person would be unable to notice the horror show about two kilometres away pumping toxins into air and water.
Reclamation can't be the false hope that allows tar sands development to continue, it's just not a justification that stands up against all of the arguments for stopping the tar sands.
[Support our campaign to Stop the Tar Sands and learn more here.]