Razing Athabasca: Bitumen Extraction and the Industrial Colonization Of
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Razing Athabasca: Bitumen Extraction and the Industrial Colonization of North-eastern Alberta, 1967-1983 by © Hereward Longley A thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of History Memorial University ofNewfoundland March 2013 St. John's Newfoundland ETHICS The oral history component of this project has been reviewed by the Interdisciplinary Committee on Ethics in Human Research at Memorial University of Newfoundland and granted approval in accordance with the Tri-Council Policy Statement on Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans. ICEHR number 20 12-311-AR. ABSTRACT This thesis shows that oil price increases and supply threats associated with the Cold War and the OPEC Crisis caused the Alberta and Canadian governments to prioritize the development of the oil sands industry. By taking equity in the Syncrude project the Alberta government emerged with conflicting mandates as both developer and regulator of the resource. By the mid 1970s, the Alberta government' s position produced a policy dynamic that contributed to the marginalization of government concern for the environmental impacts of oil sands development. Oil sands development physically colonized Indigenous land and had significant adverse environmental impacts on proximate ecosystems. The degradation of natural resources relied on by fndigenous peoples made affected communities increasingly desperate for employment in the oil sands economy from which they were largely excluded. Indigenous peoples were forced to fight for environmental protection and employment in the industry. II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would not exist were it not for the excellence and dedication of my supervisor, and principal investigator of the SSHRC funded project Abandoned Mines in Northern Canada, Dr John Sandlos. Through the Abandoned Mines proj ect, Dr Sand los provided the funding necessary to undertake the extensive, Canada-wide archival research necessary to adequately address this topic. As a supervisor Dr Sandlos was a fa ntastic mentor who provided exceptional guidance and mountains of helpful and eye opening comments on countless drafts of my work. This thesis was greatly enhanced by the exceptional suggestions and perspectives of the two other members of my supervisory committee, Dr Arn Keeling and Dr Lianne Leddy. Dr Keeling brought insights from hi storical geography and crucial editorial suggestions, while Dr Leddy helped me im prove the Indigenous history component of my research. In undertaking the archival research for this thesis, I was blessed with invaluable assistance from staff at Li brary and Archi ves Canada, the Provincia l Archives of A lberta, the Glenbow Archives, and the Energy Resources Conservation Board. I am a lso extremely grateful to Dr Ron Wallace for our informative conversations about environmental research and the development of the oil sands industry. And fi na ll y, thi s was all made possible by the encouragement and support of my parents. iii TERMINOLOGY The Woodland Cree term for the Athabasca bitumen deposits is 'asiniw pikow,' which translates approximately as 'rock or stone (asiniw) sap or gum (pikow).' 1 In Dene languages, (Chipewyan, Slave and Dogrib) the deposits are refered to as ' kles ke,' which translates approximately as 'place of(ke) oil (kles).' 2 Indigenous knowledge ofthe bitumen deposits dates back centuries, as it is found throughout the Athabasca River valley and flows like molasses on hot days. Indigenous peoples used the material to seal canoes, though other uses are unknown.3 Two terms most commonly used to reference the Alberta bitumen deposits and synthetic oil industry in mainstream Canada, 'oil sands' and ' tar sands,' have become incredibly loaded words that reflect debate between those who promote the industry and those who oppose it. The first Euro-Canadian explorers at the turn of the 18th century described the deposits as the 'tar sands.' In the 19th century the deposits were identified as bitumen, a black viscous form of organic hydrocarbons, and were referenced more widely as the ' bituminous sands' until roughly the 1960s. In the early decades of the 20th century the International Bitumen Company was founded to excavate the bitumen deposits to supply asphalt as road surfacing, so this may be referred to as the 'bitumen industry.' Yet the term 'tar sands' was widely used from the late 19th century until about the mid-1980s by the public, government, and industry. The term 'oil sands' graduall y emerged in the 1920s and 1930s as the deposits were mined to produce synthetic crude 1 Matthew Whitehead, Traditional Knowledge Coordinator, Mikisew C ree First Nation, 20 12. 2 John Ri gney, Special Projects, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, 2012. 3 Ibid. IV oil (rather than asphalt), and became more common as the oil sands industry emerged. Throughout the 20th century, these terms were used interchangeably. By about the mid-late 1980s the term ' tar sands' became much less common in industry and government. With a rise in awareness of the major environmental consequences of bitumen extraction and refining, especially during the post-1997 development phase, the terms ' oil' and ' tar' have become highly politicized. The Alberta government and the oil sands industry have sought to rescind use of the word ' tar' and to establish the term 'oil' as the exclusive reference.4 Meanwhile, those opposed to the industry and those seeking to highlight the environmental consequences of development, have sought to make ' tar' the exclusive term of reference in an effort to brand the industry as 'dirty.'5 There have been many resultant debates and antagonisms that revolve closely around the application of these terms. Authors, politicians, speakers and the public tend to be categorized and subjected to major presumptions based on the terms of reference they adopt. This semantic debate has distracted from very important and real issues that surround the legacy of bitumen extraction in north-eastern Alberta. In this thesis, I hope to avoid this debate by applying the most objective terms possible based on the changing hi storical contexts to which I refer. My central terms of reference will be ' bitumen' in reference to the deposit, and 'synthetic oi l' in reference to the product. Given that the focus of the industry is the production of oil , I will refer to the industry as either the 'synthetic oil industry,' or the ' oil sands industry.' 4 For example: "A lberta's O il Sands: Opportunity. Balance," (Government of Alberta, 2008). 5 Andrew ikiforuk, Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future ofa Continent (Vancouver: Greystone Books, 20 10). v Table of Contents ETH ICS .............. .. ................... .......... ................................................................. .. ................ i ABSTRACT ... .................................... ................................................. ..... ........................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................... .. .. .. ................................................... .. .............. iii TERM INOLOGY .................................. .. ...................... .................................................... iv Table of Contents ........................................................ ............................................. .......... vi List of Figures .................................................................... ....................... ........................ vii Abbreviations ......... .. ......................... .. .. ....... ... .. ........................ ....... .. .. .. .. ......... .. .. ............. ix INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. I Methodology .......... .. ............................ .................................. .......... ................................ 8 CHAPTER ONE ......... .. ............. ................. .. .... ................. ................................... .. .......... 31 Law and geographic knowledge .................................................................................... 32 Research and development ... ................... .. .................................... .. ..... ......................... 39 Commercialization .................................................... ............ ......................................... 44 Rational planning and the Lougheed Conservatives 1970-71 .............. ......................... 51 OPEC and the rise of corporate government.. ............................................................... 55 The Iranian Revolution and the National Energy Program ........................................... 63 Conclusion .. .................................. ............................ ...... .. ...................... ....................... 71 CHAPTER TWO ... .. ....................... ..... ........................ ........................................... .......... 73 Cautious Development: 1967-1 973 ...................... .............................................. .. ......... 78 Environmental regulation and the development imperative, 1974-79 .................. ........ 86 Environmental Research ....... .. ................................................... .............. .. .................... 98 Conclusion ............. ....................... ............................ .. ............... ................ .................. I 17 CHAPTER THREE .........................................