Simon Dyer — Apr 20, 2010

It's that time of year when we look back at 2009 and summarize our achievements for our supporters (and the boss). In the process Pembina's oil sands team has uncovered some interesting statistics about how much our research is used.

In 2009, our oil sands reports were downloaded 355,000 times. Whether you are looking for information on greenhouse gas emissions, water use, land impacts, the oil sands tenure process, in situ development or our Blueprint for Responsible Oil Sands Development, we hope you can find something of interest on our site. Our download figures means our research is accessed almost a thousand times every day, with visitors from around the world.

Since we launched Oil Sands Watch in late 2005 with our flagship publication Oil Sands Fever: The Environmental Implications of Canada's Oil Sands Rush, concern about mismanagement of oil sands development has been steadily increasing. Some time this month we passed the one million mark for downloads of our reports identifying the environmental impacts associated with oil sands development and their solutions.

That milestone is a pretty good indication of the level of interest in oil sands issues in Alberta, Canada and around the world, and of the thirst for credible, accurate information about oil sands impacts and solutions.

Late last year our work was profiled by the respected industry magazine Petroleum Economist. The article, “Pembina Institute: putting Albertans First,” describes Pembina Institute as the "ecological voice" of the Province of Alberta and provides a good overview of our continued commitment to responsible oil sands development.

We are always interested in your comments about how we can improve our site and questions you might have about oil sands development. By the way, our oil sands research is funded by grants and donations, and we would like to do more of it, so if our work is of value to you, please feel free to donate!