Study: tar sands oil may threaten ocean environment

A global analysis, claimed by researchers involved as the first of its kind, has considered the footprint of existing and proposed oil sands developments and coastal transport routes, and revealed 15 different types of stress to ocean environments.

The stresses range from oil spills and ship-animal collisions to ocean acidification and temperature increases caused by climate change, with oil sands products contributing more greenhouse gas per barrel than light crude oil throughout its lifecycle.

Bitumen, a tar-like fuel extracted from oil sands in Canada and elsewhere, is often stored in coastal areas and transported by ship.

Although a great deal of research has focused on the effects of conventional oil spills, little information exists about potential impacts from spills of unconventional oil derived from the bitumen extracted from oil sands. Diluted bitumen is chemically distinct from conventional oil, and its composition varies according to the chemicals used to make the viscous material flow.

As manufacturers are not required to fully report the makeup of these chemical mixtures, researchers noted, little is known about bitumen products' effects on marine life and food chains.

"There just isn't enough science in the public eye to answer questions about the risk bitumen poses to the ocean," said Stephanie Green, a Banting postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Ocean Solutions at Stanford University and lead author on a study published this week in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. "We found almost no research about bitumen's effects on marine species."

The study came out at a time when U.S. President-elect Donald Trump prepares to overhaul the federal government's energy and environmental regulations, indicating that he would expand tar sands development as a source of unconventional oil.

Noting that existing knowledge gaps make it impossible to create effective policies on oil sands development, transport and disaster response in the ocean, the authors recommended collecting more information about the possible environmental effects of a spill before making regulatory decisions.

"The gaps in scientific understanding we identified cast doubt on claims that risks can be effectively managed or mitigated," said co-author Wendy Palen of Simon Fraser University. "Projects should not be considered in isolation, and multiple types of impacts need to be considered simultaneously. Everything is connected."

"Policymakers risk confusing the lack of evidence for particular environmental effects with evidence that there is no risk," Green was quoted as saying in a news release from Stanford. Endit