ELA.jpg

Future of Experimental Lakes Area Still Uncertain

The future of Ontario’s Experimental Lakes Area is still up in the air, but the Conservative government has already begun dismantling the cabins that house the scientists who come to study at the world-renowned research facility.

With only two weeks left until the government is set to revoke funding, it’s still unclear whether the facility will be transferred to new management or shut down completely.
But the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ decision to quietly start removing windows and doors from researchers’ quarters, as well as personal possessions, indicates the desire to be rid of the place may be stronger than the push to put it in new hands.

With the ELA set to begin research into the effects of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), one of the primary toxins produced by tar sands development, it’s not hard to imagine why.

The Harper government announced in May of last year, with the release of the federal budget, that it would be withdrawing funding for the unique facility. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) spokesperson Melanie Carkner said that it would no longer conduct research that required the use of whole lakes and ecosystems. In a statement, the DFO added that, “every attempt will be made to transfer the ownership of the facility to universities or provinces.” But with less than two weeks left on the clock, the government has still not found anyone to take over.

At a time when the Alberta tar sands are under heavy scrutiny and people on both sides of the border are awaiting President Obama’s decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, the site's closure is, at best, suspect. While the federal government stands to save at most $3 million – a drop in the bucket in the context of the overall budget – shutting down the site could end up costing Canadians in the realm of tens of millions of dollars in decontamination costs.

In addition to influencing decisions about the future of the tar sands, proposed ELA research into PAHs would be relevant to policies regulating the burning of fossil fuels and the transport of petrochemical products. Information released this year by Environment Canada has already indicated the damage caused by tar sands mining is significantly more wide spread than previously thought.

Although, oil and gas isn’t the only industry being held to account by ELA research.

Another project on the chopping-block is an experiment designed to determine whether eutrophication—the algae overgrowth that leads to oxygen shortages and fish death—is caused by phosphorus in detergent products or by carbon and nitrogen. The project, ongoing since the station’s inception, has been crucial to understanding the the role detergent plays in the problem, convincing global policy-makers to implement regulations to control phosphorus deposits.

Further research into the impact of the tar sands on the environment could likely invite stricter regulations on the oil and gas industry, something that isn’t conducive to the Harper government’s plan to triple tar sands production in the coming decades.

However the problem goes beyond the loss of the facility for new research. Without the continuity of research the station provides—the ELA has been in operation since 1968—new research will in effect be starting from scratch.

Carol Kelly, a scientist researching at the ELA for more than 30 years, told Postmedia that if researchers are forced to collect data elsewhere, they will be starting back at zero with nothing with which to compare the new information.

“When that record stops, there’s no replacement,” Kelly said. And without new information from those same bodies of water going forward, 45 years’ worth of data will become worthless.

Image credit: dfo-mp.gc.ca

Like a kid in a candy store
When those boxes of heavily redacted documents start to pile in, reporters at The Narwhal waste no time in looking for kernels of news that matter the most. Just ask our Prairies reporter Drew Anderson, who gleefully scanned through freedom of information files like a kid in a candy store, leading to pretty damning revelations in Alberta. Long story short: the government wasn’t being forthright when it claimed its pause on new renewable energy projects wasn’t political. Just like that, our small team was again leading the charge on a pretty big story

In an oil-rich province like Alberta, that kind of reporting is crucial. But look at our investigative work on TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink pipeline to the west, or our Greenbelt reporting out in Ontario. They all highlight one thing: those with power over our shared natural world don’t want you to know how — or why — they call the shots. And we try to disrupt that.

Our journalism is powered by people just like you. We never take corporate ad dollars, or put this public-interest information behind a paywall. Will you join the pod of Narwhals that make a difference by helping us uncover some of the most important stories of our time?
Like a kid in a candy store
When those boxes of heavily redacted documents start to pile in, reporters at The Narwhal waste no time in looking for kernels of news that matter the most. Just ask our Prairies reporter Drew Anderson, who gleefully scanned through freedom of information files like a kid in a candy store, leading to pretty damning revelations in Alberta. Long story short: the government wasn’t being forthright when it claimed its pause on new renewable energy projects wasn’t political. Just like that, our small team was again leading the charge on a pretty big story

In an oil-rich province like Alberta, that kind of reporting is crucial. But look at our investigative work on TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink pipeline to the west, or our Greenbelt reporting out in Ontario. They all highlight one thing: those with power over our shared natural world don’t want you to know how — or why — they call the shots. And we try to disrupt that.

Our journalism is powered by people just like you. We never take corporate ad dollars, or put this public-interest information behind a paywall. Will you join the pod of Narwhals that make a difference by helping us uncover some of the most important stories of our time?

A dizzying bird’s-eye view of Manitoba’s hydro-electricity dams

Get the inside scoop on The Narwhal’s environment and climate reporting by signing up for our free newsletter. The landscape is the stuff of legend....

Continue reading

Recent Posts

Our newsletter subscribers are the first to find out when we break a big story. Sign up for free →
An illustration, in yellow, of a computer, with an open envelope inside it with letter reading 'Breaking news.'
Your access to our journalism is free — always. Sign up for our weekly newsletter for investigative reporting on the natural world in Canada you won’t find anywhere else.
'This is not a paywall' text illustration, in a reddish-pink font colour
Your access to our journalism is free — always. Sign up for our weekly newsletter for investigative reporting on the natural world in Canada you won’t find anywhere else.
'This is not a paywall' text illustration, in a reddish-pink font colour