It comes as no surprise that the pollution from the oil and gas industry causes negative health outcomes.
Yet, studies supporting this common sense claim are few and far between or get swept under the rug.
This past December, a new peer-reviewed study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health put our province’s oil and gas sector under the microscope.
The study found that the odds of having negative respiratory and cardiovascular health outcomes increased between nine to 21 percent, depending on how many oil and gas wells a person lives near.
This statistic is especially alarming, given that, according to the study, about 13 percent of people in Alberta live within 1.5 kilometres (km) of an active well.
In 2023, over 920 new natural gas wells and over 2,700 crude oil wells were placed on production in Alberta.
According to the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER), there were almost 467,700 licensed wells in 2023, compared to just over 457,100 in 2020.
In total, Alberta was responsible for over 60 percent of Canada’s natural gas production in 2023 and accounts for more than 80 percent of the country’s oil production.
Aboriginal people and people living in rural areas were more exposed to activity from the oil and gas industry than the general population, putting them at greater risk of negative health outcomes.
“If the oilsands and its tailing ponds existed within the city limits of Calgary, you’d be damn sure that we’d have studies looking at what the health impacts of that are,” said Dr. Joe Vipond, former president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment advocacy group.
While there aren’t many studies, there are enough to paint an ugly picture of the industry’s impact on rural communities like the Fort McKay First Nation.
Swept Under the Rug
The smell of burning rubber or dust pollution thick enough to cover playgrounds is all too familiar to the people of Fort McKay First Nation.
This reality was brought to the forefront in 2016 when a major study by Alberta Health and the AER found that more than a dozen chemicals exceeded the environmental and odour thresholds in the area.
“The report did find the air in Fort McKay does, at times, contain substances at levels above what is recommended for human health,” said Karen Grimsrud, Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health at the time.
Some of the toxic substances included hydrogen sulphide and benzene, both of which are associated with negative health outcomes, especially after long-term exposure even at low concentrations.
The report included 17 recommendations, most of which called for better monitoring and more research to track the source of these chemicals.
The then-Alberta Health Minister Sarah Hoffman promised the government would make good on these recommendations, but has it? A recent study suggests otherwise.
The study published in Science in January 2024, involved flying over our province’s Athabasca oil sands region and found that total carbon emissions were 20 to 64 times higher than what companies reported.
In total, oil and gas operations in the region released more pollutants than all other human-made sources in Canada combined.
Earlier this month, a report published in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment claimed that the AER had greatly underreported the volume and footprint of tailings spills.
In one case, a tailing spill was 100 times larger than what the AER reported.
“This report is just another addition to a bunch of glaring reports that have come out, get some media attention and disappear,” Eriel Deranger, Indigenous Climate Action’s Executive Director, told Alberta Native News.
Generation of Change
The AER is like a terrible ex. They say they are committed to doing better but do the bare minimum to get you off their back.
Young people know a thing or two about bad relationships, which is why they can see the oil and gas industry for what it is: toxic.
Young people, specifically Gen Z and Millennials, are the most concerned about climate change. They are also the generations that are most likely to advocate for climate action.
According to Pew Research, over 30 percent of Gen Z and just under 30 percent of Millennials have taken at least one of four actions to help address climate change: donating money, contacting an election official, volunteering, or attending a rally.
In 2023, the oil and gas industry was responsible for about 15 percent of total energy-related emissions globally, making it one of the largest contributors to climate change.
In Canada, the largest source of carbon emissions is the oil and gas sector, accounting for over 30 percent of our country’s emissions.
Young people see the oil and gas industry as the enemy, which is a catch-22. When it comes to job hunting, Gen Z and Millennials won’t touch the industry with a ten-foot pole.
At the same time, we need the climate-conscious minds of Gen Z and Millennials to steer the industry toward a more sustainable future, otherwise, it will continue to put profits first.
In 2021, the University of Calgary suspended its oil and gas engineering bachelor program after only 10 students enrolled.
“The younger generation is not seeing changes happening on the energy side – they are not seeing a fast-enough progress,” Ramanan Krishnamoorti, Chief Energy Officer for the University of Houston, told Forbes.
“The industry needs to find ways to accelerate that progress and not just talk about it as research and development, but truly commercial deployment of carbon management,” he continues.
Young people are tired of empty promises and being given the bare minimum. The sooner the oil and gas industry acknowledges this fact, the sooner we can achieve meaningful change.
