The Truth Slips Out
A little noticed article sheds light on Tar Sands' impact on US community health.October 25th, 2011
A Tar Sands Refinery in Anacortes, Washington.
In the oil industry’s long history of deception, few claims have been more misleading than: 'Canada’s Tar Sands are good for the US’. The fact is, turning the tarry substance into refined fuel poses risks to the health of poor and minority US communities— a public health issue that is sure to generate more controversy for this latest oil industry profit-making scheme.
It is not something the oil industry appears eager to discuss, and media coverage to date has mostly focused on other areas of public concern. But while it was little noticed at the time, this summer independent experts quietly let the cat out of the bag.
On August 1 the Globe & Mail ran a story by Nathan Vanderklippe titled "Oil sands critics target a new concern -- pipelines", addressing the notion that Tar Sands fuel may be corrosive to pipelines:
"Interviews with academics, engineers and federal officials make clear that oil sands crude does indeed appear to pose additional risks. But those risks are largely borne by refineries that have had to deal with a dirtier and more corrosive substance than industry has been accustomed to....[P]ipelines are partly shielded by the fact that they operate nearer room temperatures. Refineries, in contrast, process crude at up to 400 degrees Celsius, and the fierce heat promotes a series of chemical interactions that don't happen at lower temperatures."
To summarize, tar sands is less corrosive at 'typical pipeline temperatures'; but it is *more corrosive* at 'typical refinery temperatures'.
In other words: Cat exits bag.
Two things can happen when Tar Sands is put into pipelines: it can spill-- and pipelines inevitably do spill-- leaking toxic sludge into communities, waterways, and farmland; or it can make it all the way to refineries, where its unusually toxic waste will be dumped into waterways and be breathed by the people living nearby.
This is a scandal, especially because it could be avoided. Big Fortune 1000 companies are already doing much more than the US government on this count, using their ingenuity and leverage in the marketplace to avoid fuel from Tar Sands refineries. Now that we know more Tar Sands in US refineries equals more health problems in US communities, the US government should follow the corporate examples and act against Tar Sands as well.
Canadian Tar Sands cheerleaders self-righteously claim that it would be more ethical for the US to buy Canada's more toxic oil than to buy oil from other foreign countries that (for example) have poor human rights records. But if the Tar Sands promoters succeed in bringing more of their extremely toxic product into the United States, it would disproportionately harm the health of poor and minority communities. That's an ethical problem called 'environmental discrimination'.
