Industry Promotes Oilsands, but Who Believes Them?

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Canada's oilsands require a much greater use of water and emit roughly three times the amount of greenhouse gases than extraction from "normal" oil fields. A poll of people living near the oilsands region, in Edmonton and Toronto, found that "46 per cent believe oilsands companies haven't done a good job of balancing the environment and the economy, a balance that 71 per cent think is possible to achieve." In addition, "half of respondents don't believe what oil and gas executives say in the news, and 44 per cent do not believe information supplied by the industry." In response, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers is launching a new PR campaign, to "roll out our contradictions to the myths, and tell the public what we are doing and what we have achieved." Environmentalists faulted the industry and local government for treating the oilsands "as a communications and public relations issue," instead of changing their practices.