http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/Commentary/2009/02/05/8270266-sun.html
By KERRY DIOTTE
It's the duty of opposition politicians to be critical of governments and they usually avoid heaping praise.
So it's often best to take what out-of-power parties say with a grain of salt.
But the Alberta NDP's criticism of the latest provincial moves concerning the oilsands industry should be heeded.
This week, it was announced there would be tougher rules from the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) for toxic oilsands tailing ponds.
The rules say plants must reduce fine particles in the tailings ponds and spell out when their ponds will eventually close.
But NDP Leader Brian Mason rightly pointed out the new regulations still don't go all that far, since there's no clear timeline for closure of the ponds, which made worldwide headlines months ago after 500 migratory ducks landed in one.
"Companies literally have decades to clean up tailings ponds after they use them," said Mason.
When Mason makes the strong comment that Alberta's oil exports and jobs could be at risk because the province hasn't been tough enough on environmental matters, we hope he's off the mark. But he might not be.
There has long been a movement by environmentalists to see Alberta's tarsands boycotted, because producing bitumen consumes huge amounts of water and energy and scars the land with its ponds and open-pit mines.
The images of the ugly operations speak volumes and there's nothing like vivid images to sway public opinion -- just ask anyone connected to Canada's East Coast seal hunt. You can make all the rules you want governing seal hunting but nothing is going to stop the furor over the sight of a furry critter being bludgeoned to death.
These new rules on oilsands tailings ponds don't do anything in the way of cleaning up bitumen's sordid image-- and that's a big public relations problem for Alberta.
Until there's some way to actually get rid of most of the ugly, lake-sized ponds and mine the resource more cleanly and efficiently, we can expect the howls of protest to grow . And those ongoing protests may one day truly threaten Alberta jobs.
