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'Making this up': Study says oilsands assessments marred by weak science

Weber, Bob
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/oilsands-environmental-impact-studies-flawed-inconsistent-science-edmonton-1.5023488

Publisher:  CBC
Date Written:  18/02/2019
Year Published:  2019  
Resource Type:  Article

The environmental impact assessments required by oil companies use such inconsistent criteria that their reports say have little reliable information about one of the most heavily industrialized landscapes in Canada.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

Ford found 35 different species were studied. Only one — moose — appeared in all 30 assessments. Only 10 appeared in more than half of them.

Some assessments looked at species groups; some didn't. Some differed on their definition of wildlife habitat.

"You would think that projects that are that close together, that are similar in nature, would have a more common set of shared species," he said....

Since there;s so much variation with so little checking, there's no way to tell which assessments are more accurate, Ford says.

"Given the largely inconsistent approaches used to measure and rank 'habitat,' we have no basis with which to measure the performance, accuracy, or reliability of most habitat models used in oilsands (assessment)," the paper says.

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