Harbir Chhina helped develop the game-changing steam technology that allowed companies to tap the world’s third-largest reserves in Canada’s oilsands. It was a moonshot that paid off.

Now the oilsands industry, still recovering from last month’s wildfires, needs another one. Without a technological breakthrough like steam injection three decades ago, the flows that have transformed the country’s economy could slow to a trickle. In a world that has plenty of cheap crude, and increasingly demands cleaner energy, the oil sands look dirty, as well as expensive.

On any hot day Shell and Syncrude tour guides used to call the gasoline-like vapours that wafted from Fort McMurray's huge open-pit bitumen mines "the smell of money."

But a new study in Nature has another name for the stench: air pollution and megacity volumes of it.

In fact the tarsands, already the largest source of climate disrupting greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, have a new grim moniker: "one of the largest sources of anthropogenic secondary organic aerosols in North America."

In his May 23 opinion piece, Tim McMillan, president and CEO of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, claimed that “New pipelines will help connect Canada’s landlocked oil reserves, the third-largest in the world, to tidal ports and from there to global markets where demand for oil is growing.” 

May 26, 2016 - Ultimately, it’s up to Justin Trudeau. ​Faced with his first pipeline challenge, the Liberal prime minister can say either yes or no. A decision has to be made before the end of this year on Kinder Morgan’s plan to expand its Trans Mountain oil pipeline.

The National Energy Board has given its conditional approval for the $6.8 billion project.

May 24, 2016 - The Alberta government is speeding ahead with aggressive action to address climate change, introducing new legislation on Tuesday that would require the province's population and industry to pay for their pollution and reduce energy consumption.

Environment Minister Shannon Phillips tabled her government's climate change legislation - Bill-20, the Climate Leadership Implementation Act, exactly one year after her New Democratic Party assumed power and ended 44 years of Progressive Conservative governments ruling the province.

A cloud of noxious particles brewing in the air above the Alberta oil sands is one of the most prolific sources of air pollution in North America, often exceeding the total emissions from Canada’s largest city, federal scientists have discovered.

The finding marks the first time researchers have quantified the role of oil sands operations in generating secondary organic aerosols, a poorly understood class of pollutants that have been linked to a range of adverse health effects.

First the good news:

After spending months ignoring the recommendations put forward by British Columbia's Climate Leadership team, Premier Christy Clark has finally found someone to take charge of this very important file.  

May 19, 2016 4:19PM EDT - The National Energy Board has conditionally approved the $6.8-billion Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion project.

The regulator said Thursday that Kinder Morgan Canada Inc.’s Trans Mountain project must meet 157 conditions.

“These conditions would address issues such as safety, protection of the environment and other considerations,” the NEB said in a 533-page report. The conditions address areas such as engineering, safety, the environment, socio-economic issues and emergency management.

...a report by Canada’s parliamentary budget officer predict[ed] that disasters linked to climate change could cost the government an average of C$902m a year over the next five years...

The wildfire in northern Alberta continues to rage out of control, growing to more than 423,000 hectares as officials said it would be at least another two weeks before the tens of thousands of evacuated Fort McMurray residents would be allowed to return to the city.

For all the political noise coming from municipalities and provinces in opposition to various pipeline projects, in reality they may lack any legal leverage to stop the projects or insist on conditions.