Greenpeace takes poke at Alberta oil sands
The Canadian Press
June 27, 2008
CALGARY -- Greenpeace is stepping up pressure on the environmental record of Alberta's oil sands with a tongue-in-cheek website that offers mock tours of the province's industrial northeast.
The site, with an address similar to the province's official tourism website, tempts travellers with black sand beaches, toxic lakes and clearcut forests.
It recommends starting the day with a "propane cannon wake-up call" and suggests a little open-pit paragliding over the vast oil sands mines.
The site satirizes Alberta's planned $25-million public relations campaign to improve the environmental image of the energy industry.
Greenpeace Canada spokesman Mike Hudema says that cash would be better spent cleaning up the oil sands.
Meanwhile, Alberta's new provincial energy regulator announced yesterday that massive and controversial tailings ponds are about to face tighter rules and enforcement action if reclamation targets are not met.
Alberta's Energy Resources Conservation Board chairman Dan McFadyen said the honour system of counting on companies to clean up their mess has not been working.
"Many of the oil sands projects are not meeting the targets for the management of fluid fine tailings set out in their applications," he said in a release.
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