| |
BP GREENWASH?
BP fights back – with greenwash
Since the campaign to stop BP going into the Tar Sands started to grow, BP has been treating investors, NGOs and the media to a charm offensive, claiming that the Sunrise Project won’t be like all those other nasty Tar Sands projects – that it will be clean, green, and that local First Nations are perfectly happy about it.
In fact, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest the Sunrise method of mining deeper deposits, known as ‘in situ’, is even more energy- and water-intensive than the much uglier surface mines, and its greenhouse gas emissions will be up to three times higher.
BP claims that because Sunrise is not a surface-mining operation there will be no tailings ponds and minimal damage to the ecosystem. This is also just plain wrong. The fragmentation of the boreal forest by well-pads, pipelines and processing facilities for this type of operation devastates bird and animal habitats. Alberta’s caribou herds, according to the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, are ‘almost doomed’ as a result.
There is no way to ‘green’ the Tar Sands – we have to leave them in the ground. |
|