New report finds elevated arsenic risk in Fort Chipewyan
By MATTHEW HEINDL
Fort McMurray Today staff
Friday November 09, 2007
A new study that claims high levels of arsenic and mercury are in the Athabasca River has many calling for a halt to oilsands growth, but two Alberta government departments are not supporting its findings.
More than 70 people in Fort Chipewyan met Wednesday night to hear Dr. Kevin Timoney of Treeline Ecological Research deliver his findings on river sediment deposits downstream of the oilsands.
The study said the waters in the Peace-Athabasca Delta are steeped in arsenic and the fish are high in mercury and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The report did not link them to illness or oilsands plants.
This information is what many residents of the hamlet of about 1,200 were looking for, after claims of high rates of cancer began to surface in 2003.
Elders have said for some time that their water is unclean.
"I'm shocked but I'm not surprised, and I feel that this more than anything else now emphasizes the urgent need for commencement of a baseline human health study in Fort Chip," said Dr. John O'Connor, a family physician who campaigned for years to bring attention to unusually high rates of disease and rare cancers.
"I wish to God people had listened to the elders and other people in Fort Chip over the years that they've described the change that is seen in their environment, because they've been seeing it for years and they haven't been listened to."
The Mikisew Cree Nation has immediately called for a moratorium on oilsands developments. Others at the presentation urged human health studies, specifically to determine the amount of mercury in their bodies, said Donna Cyprien, Health Director of the Nunee Health Authority, which commissioned the study. She said that a meeting is planned for next week to determine the next steps for the health authority.
“This is only a start to proving that there is a direct link to oilsands development and our health. We are still studying and will pursue further scientific studies complemented with Traditional Ecological Knowledge that we suspect will support what we heard," said Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation in a press release.
"I think there's definitely something there, and I think that some more studies have to be done that are community related and the information should be dispersed to the community before going to some of the other agencies that do these kind o f studies and leave the studies sitting on the shelf," said Oliver Glandfield with the Fort Chipewyan heritage museum.
There is however no direct relationship in the study between the oilsands and the high sediment levels, or any proof that the levels are even unnaturally high.
And some experts are questioning the validity of the study's methods and findings in relation to the oilsands.
Preston McEachern, a water scientist and division leader with Alberta Environment, points to the first line of a section in teh document on total mercury that reads "as noted in the method, the total mercury values for water may not be reliable and should be redone with the cold vapor method."
"They used the wrong analytical method, they didn't use a sceptic technique when they did it -- judging from the pictures they weren't even wear gloves. When we do trace mercury analysis we pretty much have to wear space suits almost because mercury is very prone to contamination," he said.
Alberta Environment is working to extend its studies to that area, and the data, pulled from Alberta Environment research and the Regional Aquatics Monitoring Program (RAMP) of which McEachern are apart of, draws different conclusions from the same data.
"I do have to comment that ... in his (Timoney's) own admission (there's) real uncertainty about the data that he's presenting, and I one has to ask when you're uncertain about the data that you're presenting, what purpose does it serve to present it.
"It raises people's public concerns as though the data are strong, and its created a bit of a delimma, if the data is weak, as are his, poor samples and the wrong methods used, which he even admits to, reporting that data creates fear," McEachern said.
Timony could not be reached for comment about the report. Messages could not be left on his voicemail, because the system said it was full.
