Everyone is ready to leave at 9; everyone but me. I have been trying last night and this morning to write up this blog, re-charge computer , cameras, sound recorder and cell phone, and download all my sound and video files to a hard disk as backup. Between the demands of canoeing, paddling, filming, and leading the trip, there just is not time to do everything. I also have to be careful with all my equipment as we are camping on sandbars so there is sand everywhere. Sharing my tent with a dog does not help. I had hoped to upload a blog daily but I have to give up. The blog will be updated to report on the trip after the fact.
Today is an important day as we will
go through the biggest riverfront tar sands installations. When we do finally leave at
10, the first thing we do is investigate
the creek where we had seen the flash flood last night. While the others wait,
I hike up the creek bed which is muddy and has very steep banks. At this point,
the top land is about 80 m above the river so the creek itself is quite steep in places but there is little
water now. I follow it up until it veers
south, away from the direction of the nearest oil sand project. There is no
sign of oil contamination (from a tailings pond) so it would seem that the
flash flood was natural or semi-natural: perhaps related to land clearing by a
tar sands operation.
The creek that was the scene of a flash flood yesterday
Brittany at our lunch spot. It is not all tar sands. There is mud too.
After a couple of hours of paddling,
we come to an enormous bridge across the river: the Suncor bridge. Beyond it is
a Suncor operation on both sides of the river. On the west bank are several
enormous metal structures: the heart of the upgrader. Associated with these,
are several large smoke stacks emitting billowing clouds, four smaller stacks
burning off methane, and several long snakes of large shiny pipes taking water
out of the river.
The Suncor bridge and upgrader (above and below)
At many points so far we have seen
oil seeping out of the sands along the banks. However, through this stretch, coincidence
or not, there is more oil in the sands and in the water. The noise is loud, and
several members of our group are finding the odour of tar difficult and have
put on filter face masks. In the distance on both sides on top of the river, where
the river banks meet with flat land beyond, instead of trees, we see large
expanses of sand: tar sands mining operations have been through here. We see no wildlife at all
today. We do however pass by a couple more industrial buildings along the way:
pumping stations to get water to more installations that are further back from
the river.
Top to bottom: Oily water along shore near the upgrader; Water pipelines snaking along the Suncor upgrader; Exhaust stacks of the Suncor upgrader; Alex with air filter mask as we go by the upgrader. Some people get headaches and nausea in the vicinity of upgraders.
Top, L to R: Kelly, Kevin, Clifford and Bruce on the most oil-soaked sandbar we saw, opposite the Suncor upgrader; Bottom: A plume from another upgrader in the distance.
Three hours and 20 km later, we come
to another bridge, known locally as the
“Bridge to Nowhere”. The name comes from the fact that at the time of
construction, there was nothing on the other side. Now there are numerous tar
sands projects on that side and the bridge is busy: as if it were in the middle
of a big city. The bridge is only a few km south of the town of Ft McKay, a
town of 1000 people.
We decide to camp on a sand bar 1 km
below the bridge. While we are setting up camp we note that there is a traffic
jam heading back to Ft Mac; shift change time but something on the west bank
has stopped traffic for about 15 minutes. On the bridge we see buses carrying
workers back to Ft Mac as well as pickup trucks, heavy machinery, and
semi-trailers. Eventually the traffic is unblocked and the traffic jam
disperses but the traffic continues. There is heavy traffic noise all evening
and into the night. It feels like we are camping in the midst of a big city.
The Bridge to Nowhere with workers coming off their shift, and going nowhere in a traffic jam. Photo taken from our sandbar campsite
That evening, a few of us bathe in
the river. Afterwards, I notice oil spots all over my lower legs. One of my
packs also has many oil spots. It is true that there is oil coming out of the
tar sands along the banks, but it does not seem to be enough to produce this
much oil. Willow, too, has oil spots on the fur of her paws and up her lower
legs.
At Bruce’s suggestion, we put
together a buffet: everyone’s food laid out along an upturned canoe. It works
out well and is a lot of fun. We repeat this several times.
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