Enter search here:
search whole document
search titles and subtitles only


Or search locations (type in): 
Or search themes (type in): 
Or search authors (type in): 
Or search groups (type in): 
 
 

The Environmental Impact of Tar Sands Exploitation in Alberta

Long list of severe environmental damages and worse to come as multifold expansion of the exploitation scale is planned

Document created 03 February 2009, last updated 04 October 2010

Hell on earth
According to Greenpeace: “Developing the tar sands has created the biggest industrial development project, the biggest capital investment project, and the biggest energy project in the world. It has also created a literal hell on earth. Areas of wilderness the size of small countries are chewed up and replaced by a landscape of toxic lakes, open pit mines, refineries, and pipe lines. ” (see Greenpeace link below for more information and images)

About the Alberta tar sands (also called oil sands):
- they are natural geological formations made of a mixture of sand, clay, water and bitumen,
- deposits cover about 140,000 sq km / 54,000 sq miles (a little larger than England) in northern Alberta.

Tar sands extraction:
- about 60% of the total tar sands area (84,000 sq km / 32,000 sq miles) has been leased for extraction,
- by 2008 about 600 sq km / 232 sq miles of forest had been disturbed by mining operations,
- surface mining is used for deposits no deeper that 75m / 245 feet,
- deeper deposits are extracted using techniques that heat the bitumen in place so that it can be pumped to the surface,
(see Oilsandswatch.org website, link below, for additional information).

Tar sands are very controversial because they cause considerable pollution and environmental damage:
- tar sands exploitation is devastating the boreal forest and destroys wildlife habitat,
- it uses very large quantities of water that are not returned to the natural cycle,
- it produces large amounts of tailings that are toxic, keep on building up and must be stored indefinitely,
- tailing ponds leak and are accused of polluting rivers downstream,
- tar sands exploitation causes acid rains that spread into other provinces,
- tar sands exploitation is highly energy-intensive: producing a barrel of tar sand oil produces three times more greenhouse gases than a barrel of conventional oil
(see Western Canada Wilderness Committee report: “CANADA’S TAR SANDS: Dirty Energy Muddies Green Promises”, spring 2008. Also regarding greenhouse gas emissions see BusinessGreen, 27 Oct 09. Both links below.).

Recent environmental impacts findings:
- Study says that planned tar sands expansion will destroy habitat and cause the death of millions of birds (see Boreal Songbird Initiative, links below).
- Recent study shows that pollutants are released by the tar sands exploitation into the Athabasca River system. This contradicts the official line of the government of Alberta (see Reuters, 30 Aug 2010 and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 23 Oct 09, links below).

The environmental, political and moral issues linked to the production of oil from the tar sands are well known globally: for instance see Nature, 13 Feb 2009, link below.

Links to external websites:

[wb1]  Western Canada Wilderness Committee - Canada's Tar Sands - What the government doesn't want you to know Wilderness Committee Educational Report Vol.27 - No.04, Spring 2008

[wb2]  Nature - 13 Feb 09 - Obama may be tough on Canada's tar sands How will future US emissions regulations affect North America's biggest oil owner?

[wb3]  The Guardian - 18 Feb 09 - Obama's tar sand trap The tar sands of Canada constitute a deadly threat to our planet. The US and Canada must agree not to develop them

[wb4]  The Guardian - 26 Fe 09 - Indigenous people in legal challenge against oil firms over tar sand project Canada's Beaver Lake Cree Nation group say their traditional way of life is being devastated by the rush to extract oil from vast tar sand fields

[wb5]  Reuters - 31 Mar 09 - Duck deaths at Syncrude Canada triple initial tally - The death toll among ducks that landed on a toxic waste pond at Syncrude Canada Ltd's oil sands operation last spring was 1,606, more than three times higher than previously made public, Sy

[wb6]  Borealbirds.org - Report Finds Millions of Birds will be Lost from Tar Sands Development

[wb7]  Forests.org - 12 Aug 09 - New data suggests Alberta oilsands causing acid rain in Saskatchewan - Environmentalists want Ottawa to set caps on emissions from Alberta's oilsands that are likely responsible for acid rain falling over northern Saskatchewan's pristine rive

[wb8]  Forests.org - 12 Sep 09 = Canada: Greenhouse gas emissions from Alberta oilsands higher than some countries: Report - Alberta's oilsands produce more greenhouse gas emissions than some European countries right now and will produce more than all of the world's volcanoes

[wb9]  BusinessGreen - 27 Oct 09 - Report slams low-carbon tar sand "myth" Joint Co-operative Group-WWF report warns that even with the most optimistic projections for CCS development, exploiting tar sands for oil remains highly carbon intensive

[wb10]  -

[wb11]  Reuters - 30Aug 10 - Oil sands polluting Canadian river system: study - Canada's vast oil sands operations are polluting the Athabasca River system, researchers said on Monday, in a report that is bound to fuel the environmental battle over developing the resource

[wb12]  OilSandsWatch.org - Click to visit "Alberta's Oil Sands" page.

[wb13]  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA - 23 Oct 09 - Oil sands development contributes polycyclic aromatic compounds to the Athabasca River and its tributaries

[wb14]  Greenpeace - Click to visit tar sands page

Comments 

No comment available for this document

Sign In  to write a comment or  Join (free and fast)

Ratings

Not yet rated  
Rate itClose
Tick box to add Rating:
 Important information that should be widely known
 Great story (topic or presentation or both)
 Outstanding achievement by person or group as reported in story
X Close

Related documents Quick look

Below: the latest documents in
  

Open this category in Headlines for full navigation options and access to all categories and documents.
You can also use the navigation links located here in the right column.

×
Tick box to add Rating:
 Important information that should be widely known
 Great story (topic or presentation or both)
 Outstanding achievement by person or group as reported in story
 

×