Music: {allcanada} Filmmaker urges Canada to avoid oil sand 'curse'

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

{allcanada} Filmmaker urges Canada to avoid oil sand 'curse'

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OTTAWA (AFP) – Filmmaker James Cameron on Wednesday urged Canada to avoid the "curse" of its oil sands, saying the world's second largest oil reserve could be a "great gift" if managed with environmental care.

The oil sands "will be a curse if it's not managed properly. It can also be a great gift to Canada and to Alberta if it is managed properly," said the director of blockbuster films "Avatar," "Titanic" and "The Terminator."

Cameron was invited by aboriginal leaders to speak at a nationally televised press conference in Edmonton, Alberta after touring the oil sands.

"It is impossible to imagine a refining process that did not have negative environmental impacts. It would have to be some kind of Immaculate Conception," Cameron said.

But it can be "mitigated," he said after meeting with oil industry executives, the premier of Alberta, flying over the tar sands in a helicopter, driving to a tailing pond at a Syncrude site, and visiting a native community downstream.

"Personally I believe that this is an incredible resource and I certainly understand why everybody is stampeding toward it with this desire to exploit it as rapidly as possible because it's the single largest reserve of potential crude oil next to Saudi Arabia."

"And in an energy starved future, that's going to... put Canada in a different position," he said.

"The world is looking at what you here in Alberta do, and the decisions that are made here are really going to shape the energy policy of the future," Cameron said. "The world is going to look to Canada for leadership."

Cameron called for regulations to limit oil sands emissions, a moratorium on new tailing ponds until "dry" technologies under development are rolled out, and for renewable energy to replace natural gas used in the extraction process.

Cameron also called for incentives to press oil companies "to use the best practices and the best technology," as well as "proper oversight" of the oil industry.

He has previously urged US President Barack Obama not to approve a multi-billion-dollar Keystone XL pipeline that would be used to transport Canadian crude oil across six US states to US refining markets.

Finally, Cameron urged people to pay heed to the warnings of those who live near the oil sands and who suffer the impact of environmental damage.

"We need to respect the First Nations communities for having their finger on the pulse of what's happening to Mother Nature," he said.

"If they say the (local) fish tastes different and they're being affected... I think it would behoove us to listen to that and find out what the causal links are."

Aboriginals living along the Athabasca River, near the oil sands, "are afraid to drink the water and eat the fish and let the kids swim in the river."

Cameron recalled his own childhood swimming in Canadian rivers, saying this is what inspired his passion for water and led him to explore the oceans.

"I can't imagine being told by my mom that I can't swim in the river," he said.