Government Memo Criticized Top Biologist For Comments On Oilsands
One of Canada’s top biologists says he will not stop talking to the media after a government memo accused him of bias and speaking out of turn about the environmental impact of Alberta’s oilsands.
Queen’s University professor John Smol said Monday he was shocked and outraged to learn earlier this month of an internal Natural Resources Canada memo criticizing him over comments he made to reporters about a study on lakes near the oilsands.
“They cannot stop me from talking about research done in my lab,” Smol told Huffington Post Canada.
The Canada Research Chair in Environmental Change only learned about the complaint after being contacted by the political news website Blacklocks.ca, which was first to report on the memo, made public through an access to information request.
The study, jointly conducted by Smol’s lab and Environment Canada, found that levels of hazardous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in six regional lakes ranged from 2.5 to 23 times greater than they were before oilsands development. The study was published in January 2013 in the Journal of the National Academy of Sciences.
“I’m allowed to talk about my science, and everything I said was pre-read by my Environment Canada colleagues,” he said.
The memo to the Natural Resources minister was signed by deputy minister Serge Dupont, who was appointed to a post at the International Monetary Fund in Washington earlier this summer.
It said the study received “significant media coverage” partly due to Queen’s University’s provision of an advance copy to media outlets and a technical briefing by Smol — both of which are standard practice and follow the procedures used for publication in major journals, Smol noted
More here....
Government Memo Criticized Top Biologist For Comments On Oilsands
One of Canada’s top biologists says he will not stop talking to the media after a government memo accused him of bias and speaking out of turn about the environmental impact of Alberta’s oilsands.
Queen’s University professor John Smol said Monday he was shocked and outraged to learn earlier this month of an internal Natural Resources Canada memo criticizing him over comments he made to reporters about a study on lakes near the oilsands.
“They cannot stop me from talking about research done in my lab,” Smol told Huffington Post Canada.
The Canada Research Chair in Environmental Change only learned about the complaint after being contacted by the political news website Blacklocks.ca, which was first to report on the memo, made public through an access to information request.
The study, jointly conducted by Smol’s lab and Environment Canada, found that levels of hazardous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in six regional lakes ranged from 2.5 to 23 times greater than they were before oilsands development. The study was published in January 2013 in the Journal of the National Academy of Sciences.
“I’m allowed to talk about my science, and everything I said was pre-read by my Environment Canada colleagues,” he said.
The memo to the Natural Resources minister was signed by deputy minister Serge Dupont, who was appointed to a post at the International Monetary Fund in Washington earlier this summer.
It said the study received “significant media coverage” partly due to Queen’s University’s provision of an advance copy to media outlets and a technical briefing by Smol — both of which are standard practice and follow the procedures used for publication in major journals, Smol noted
More here....
Government Memo Criticized Top Biologist For Comments On Oilsands
