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Canada's oil sands industry admits it has “dropped the ball” in engaging with the public about the environmental effects of its energy developments, the head of the sector's largest lobby group said Thursday in revealing the results of a major public outreach campaign.

“I think that the ground has been taken away from us in many respects by campaigns by environmental groups and others,” Dave Collyer, president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, told a news conference.

“We've made some assumptions, I believe, about how Canadians view the industry and the extent to which we need to engage proactively ... We need to do better. There's no question.”

Mr. Collyer was joined by Imperial Oil Ltd. chief executive officer Bruce March and Oil Sands Developers Group president Don Thompson in announcing the findings of a CAPP poll.

The poll, which surveyed 425 people in Edmonton and Toronto in June, sought to find out more about Canadians' perceptions of the oil sands industry, which has been encountering mounting criticism for its high water use and greenhouse gas emissions.

It was done in conjunction with an online forum called Canada's Oil Sands: A Different Conversation, in which thousands of members of the public have voiced their concerns about the industry.

About 46 per cent of respondents believed oil sands companies have not done a good job in balancing the environment and the economy, while 22 per cent think the industry has achieved that balance.

Half of the respondents said they do not believe what oil and gas executives say in the media, compared with 13 per cent who do believe what they say.

But the survey also said 63 per cent of respondents believe Canada benefits from oil sands development and 64 per cent said the oil sands are important to providing a secure supply of Canada's future oil needs.

The poll, which was done by “academic researchers,” has a margin of error of 4.8 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

The industry has been the target of a great deal of criticism for its severe environmental impacts. The industry's impact on fresh water supply was cited as the biggest area of concern, followed by the impact on wildlife and habitat.

Oil sands projects require enormous amounts of water in their operations, and many communities in the Fort McMurray, Alta., area are concerned that the companies are drawing too much fresh water from the Athabasca River.

There is also concern that toxic chemicals from the oil sands plants are finding their way into the food chain, jeopardizing the health of aboriginal communities downstream of the developments.

The industry says it has made progress in reducing its water use and has been working on improving technology used in its tailings ponds, huge lakes filled with toxic wastewater from oil sands extraction.

The oil sands also emit enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, the gas attributed to climate change. Many industry players have backed carbon capture and sequestration technology as a means to prevent carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere by storing it underground.

Industry players need to make themselves more visible, said Mr. Thompson, whose group communicates between companies, the government and local stakeholders about oil sands development.

“I don't think we have been upfront enough and I don't think we've communicated enough and we've allowed others to take the agenda from us, and I guess I will need to spend a lot more time in this area than I have in the past,” he said.

While the industry may have failed on the communications front, Mr. Collyer said he stands by the industry's environmental performance.

“We've dropped the ball on getting our message out and communicating. We have not dropped the ball on environmental performance as an industry,” he said.

Lindsay Telfer of the Sierra Club said the polling by CAPP reinforces the messages her environmental group has been trying to get out, but that she would like to see the industry and government move beyond “rhetoric.”

“I think there are some very significant and very real concerns that Canadians have on how the oil sands have been proceeding and it's not just a perception issue,” she said.

“I think that the lack of enforcement of environmental regulations is significant.”

A private prosecution launched Wednesday over the death of 500 ducks at the Syncrude Canada Ltd. oil sands mine last March shows that the government is not doing enough to enforce environmental laws in the oilsands, Ms. Telfer said.