Alberta Oil Sands Mercury Emissions

Oil Sands Mercury Emissions

by John H.W. Hummel

Oil Sands operations in Alberta release many pollutants into the Air. One of those many dozens of substances is mercury. These Oil Sands corporations atomize mercury (by burning it) and send that mercury out over huge areas from their smokestacks.

I have spent the last three decades of my life letting people know what mercury does to people.

There are now four entire generations of my dear Friends at Grassy Narrows First Nation, Wabaseemoong and Wabauskang in Ontario suffering from Mercury poisoning simply because they ate their fish from their rivers. Where they always got their dinner. For hundreds of years!

Here is Suncor, just one of those Oil Sands Oil companies which release Mercury from their smokestacks. Since the year 2000, they (alone) have pumped 228 Kilograms of mercury into our environment! That is huge!  Note: Amounts are in Kilograms and it takes very little to taint the fish from entire lakes for human consumption! Heck! They now evacuate school classrooms when a mercury thermometer is broken. After ten or twenty years of intense Oil Sands development, how much mercury will that be from this one facility? But there isn't just one facility! There are very many now. Think about it.

This is what some of the other Oil Sands companies have been releasing for the last decade:

I'll add up all the mercury releases tomorrow. But, check out all the arsenic releases too. O.K.?

When you look at the dates, please keep in mind that our present Prime Minister and Conservative Government were elected during the 2006 Canadian election.

It is strange that the amounts of pollution releases from Suncor increased so much after that. As Jay Leno would say, "An Eerie Coincidence!" Or, as I would say, "Not!"

Historical Substance Reports for Suncor Energy Oil Sands Limited Partnership - Suncor Energy Inc. Oil Sands


Suncor Energy Oil Sands Limited Partnership - Suncor Energy Inc. Oil Sands

NPRI ID: 2230
Hwy 63N Highway
Fort McMurray, AB
T9H 3E3

Mercury (and its compounds) (NA - 10)
      Year On-Site Releases Disposal* Off-Site Recycling Units

      On-Site      Off-Site**

      2011 37  0.706 - 0.301 kg
      2010 43  - - 0.100 kg
      2009 45  - - 1.6 kg
      2008 51  - - 0.034 kg
      2007 51  - - 104 kg
      2006 8.9  - - 76 kg
      2005 8.3  - - 47 kg
      2004 9.3  - - 62 kg
      2003 8.5  - - 62 kg
      2002 4.6  - 53 - kg
      2001 5.9  - 43 - kg
      2000 6.7  - 0.009 - kg

Here is everything that one Suncor plant at Fort McMurray releases:

http://www.ec.gc.ca/pdb/websol/querysite/facility_history_e.cfm?opt_npri_id=0000002230&opt_report_year=2011

Think about it.

For Land and Life,

John H.W. Hummel
Nelson, B.C.