Hidden Scourge: Exposing the Truth About Fossil Fuel Industry Spills

Description

This book began when Kevin Timoney noticed a suspicious pattern in data reported by the Alberta Energy Regulator. For tens of thousands of spills, recovery volumes exactly matched the reported spill volumes. In short, the data were too good to be true. And so began a search for the scientific truth about spills. In western North America crude oil and saline water spills – both small and large – occur daily and cause permanent damage to ecosystems that remains largely hidden from public view. Hidden Scourge takes the reader on a journey into a covert world of energy industry spills with environmental incident data from over 100,000 spills in Alberta, Saskatchewan, North Dakota, Montana, and the Northwest Territories. Timoney evaluates the truthfulness of regulatory reporting in light of evidence from peer-reviewed scientific data, original field observations, industrial and government reports, interviews, and documents obtained under freedom of information. In stark contrast to a halcyon picture of prosperity and "world-class" environmental management, the reality is rampant destruction of biodiversity, persistent soil contamination, failed reclamation, and thousands of undocumented spills. Hidden Scourge grounds existential debates about climate and ecological crises in evidence of how hydrocarbon-based economies change the ecosystems where fossil fuels are extracted. The science is clear: the industry consistently damages ecosystems wherever it operates. If energy-industry regulators cannot act independently, honestly, and in the public interest, they profoundly undermine democratic institutions. The result is a legacy of contaminated sites that will burden future generations with great uncertainty and cost. Cover HIDDEN SCOURGE Title Copyright Dedication Contents Prologue: Learn from the Past or Repeat It Preface PART ONE HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT 1 Covert Spills 2 The Data and How They Were Analyzed 3 An Overview of Spills PART TWO THE INCIDENT AND THE AFTERMATH 4 The Effects of Spills 5 The Effects of Other Fossil Fuel Industry Activities PART THREE REGULATORY EVIDENCE 6 Inaccurate Locations, Suspect Spill Data, and the Falcon Effect 7 Spill Forensics 8 Exploring the Unknown: Missing Spills PART FOUR SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE 9 Spill Effects on Soil and Water Chemistry on the Dene Tha Lands 10 Spill and Related Effects on the Vegetation and Flora in Four Study Regions 11 Behind the Firewall: The Pace-Spyglass Oil Spill 12 Exposure to Contaminants at the Spill Sites 13 The Regulator’s Failure to Document Spill Effects on Habitat and Wildlife 14 Cumulative Effects PART FIVE OUT OF THE RABBIT HOLE AND INTO THE LIGHT 15 Misinformation and the Metaorganization 16 A Captured Regulator 17 Conclusions: Better Sad Truths Than Happy Lies 18 The Way Home Afterword Postscript Acknowledgments Glossary of Concepts, Abbreviations, and Terms Tables, Figures, and Plates References Index