Great story in the Globe and Mail today about information on deformed fish in the rivers in the tar sands region of Alberta that has been kept from the public.
The story ( http://bit.ly/fFkaD2 ) says that the monitoring body responsible for collecting information on river quality and deformed fish and other material — the Regional Aquatics Monitoring Program (RAMP) — has had evidence of deformed fish going back to 1987 but hasn’t been disclosing that information fully, certainly not to the federal government.
The Globe story notes that RAMP has data on 915 deformed fish in the Athabasca River (which runs through the tar sands operations of major oil companies) and other rivers in the area. Most of the deformities have been reported since 1997. RAMP has not disclosed that number in annual reports submitted to the Alberta government. The cause of the deformities is unknown at this point: could be natural, could be the result of toxic pollution. Clearly, there is a need for substantial research by governments.
RAMP is considered a secretive body. It has a steering committee with half the members from tar sands companies plus representatives from the province, municipalities and First Nations. The committee uses the “expertise” of the tar sands industry and information from contractors paid for by the industry. Ottawa used to have a representative but doesn’t now.
Concern about RAMP caused former federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice to order a review of it after seeing pictures of deformed fish. He promised to release the results of the review immediately upon receiving it. The review has been delivered to Ottawa but so far current Environment Minister John Baird has not honoured the commitment by Prentice to release the report. Two other reviews of RAMP are also underway.
Today’s story adds emphasis to the comment on Wednesday in a report by the Royal Society that the environmental regulatory process in the tar sands is not keeping pace with the expansion of tar sands operations. Governments have been lax.
It’s a little hard to understand how the Royal Society was completely unaware of the information RAMP has been hiding. However, the RS did say: “…there are valid concerns about the current … RAMP that must be addressed.” Next step would be for Minister Baird to release the report on RAMP that is sitting in Ottawa now.