Alberta oil sands under academic scrutiny

CALGARY, Alberta, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- There is a significant risk to the environment tied to the exploitation of oil sands found in Canada's Alberta province, a study shows.

Aboriginal Canadians have expressed concern that there were major health and environmental risks associated with metals tied to oil sands in the region. Their complaints were challenged by the oil industry and the Canadian government, which said the high levels of metals in the region were linked to natural processes, not the activity of oil sands mining.

A study from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, however, backs aboriginal claims, suggesting there are unusually high levels of metals and other pollutants near oil sand developments and downstream from them, The New York Times reports. Upstream levels, the report found, showed much lower levels of pollutants.

Environmental groups, meanwhile, worry about the potential for an oil spill from a planned pipeline and expressed concern about the damage caused to land, air and water during oil sand operations.

Greenpeace complains that Alberta energy agencies are rubber-stamping tar sand projects.

Canadian pipeline company Enbridge is proposing a 725-mile pipeline to carry oil from Alberta to terminals in British Columbia.