Simon Dyer — Nov 25, 2009

Welcome to the Pembina Institute’s new blog about the environmental impacts of oil sands development. As the Oil Sands Program Director here at Pembina, I manage the institute's oil sands research. Our publications help inform the oil sands debate and the changes we need.

Canada’s oil sands continue to be at the forefront of both national and international headlines. In the past decade we have seen a big change in both public awareness and growing concern about the mismanagement of Canada’s oil sands. Sadly, despite all the negative attention that the oil sands are receiving, the response from industry and from the federal and Alberta governments has largely been to downplay environmental impacts and the major gaps in environmental management in the oil sands that remain unaddressed.

The Pembina Institute remains committed to responsible oil sands development — that is, development that addresses the need to make deep reductions in greenhouse gas pollution globally, meets regional environmental limits, respects the rights of aboriginal peoples and optimizes benefits while minimizing negative impacts to local communities, Albertans and Canadians. Until these missing pieces are addressed, we believe the focus on further expansion of the oil sands is irresponsible and is both contributing to the increasing conflict and damaging Canada’s international reputation.

The addition of an oil sands blog is just one of our recent improvements to the website. In Clearing the Air on Oil Sands Myths we try and shine a light on some of the more misleading statements that are perpetuated by industry and government to deflect attention from the challenges posed by (and often viable solutions to) oil sands development.

Thanks for taking the time to visit our site. I welcome your comments and perspective on any aspect of our work or other questions related to oil sands development.