Located in northeastern Alberta (Pasqualetti 2009, p. 248) are the “largest oil-sand deposits in the world” (Pasqualetti 2009, p. 250). The Alberta oil sands provide a necessary resource that is valuable to the Albertan and Canadian economies. The oil sands have received ample attention in recent years from the media and from various environmental agencies and groups due to “growing concern about a range of environmental impacts” (Jordaan 2012, p. 3611). These concerns are not without merit, as the ongoing development in the Alberta oil sands pose a significant threat to the environment. This essay will give a brief overview of the oil sands and its main methods of extraction. It will examine the negative impacts of oil sands operations in
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The Alberta oil sands exist “within 140 000 km (54 000 square miles) of land in northern Alberta, an area comparable to the state of Florida” (Jordaan 2012, p. 3611). True to its name, it is “a mix of sand, water, and a heavy, viscous hydrocarbon called bitumen that can be converted to oil” (Tenenbaum 2009, p. 151). The former “Alberta Energy and Utilities Board estimated the amount of recoverable oil in Canada’s oil sands at 175 billion barrels, second only to Saudi Arabia’s reserves” (Tenenbaum 2009, p. 151). There are two main methods of extraction involved in oil sands operations:
Surface mining (~55% of current production) is used in shallow oil sands reserves using open-pit mines where the bitumen is then extracted using hot water. In situ production (~45 of current production) from underground reservoirs uses both cold and thermal technologies to recover and extract the bitumen and move it to the surface. There is no clear environmental winner between in situ and mining methods. (Bergerson and Keith 2010, p. 6010)
In a report by the Royal Society of Canada, “the panel cited substantial evidence that efforts to extract oil from the Alberta deposits have degraded air, land, and water quality to verifying degrees” (Weinhold 2011, p. 126). It was noted that “[t]he claims by some of the …show more content…
Reclamation is a method that is meant to “return landscapes to their predisturbance ecosystems” (Jordaan 2012, p. 3612). “This is of particular importance for oil sands mining, where large tracts of land are disturbed in high latitude areas where ecosystems are less productive and thus slower to regenerate” (Jordaan 2012, p. 3612-3613). Researchers have criticized claims by the oil industry that they will return the land to the way they found it as “greenwashing” (Rooney, Bayley, and Schindler 2012, p. 4927). Unfortunately, the current reclamation policies used by the government do not necessarily result in the land being restored. Current government policies “do not call for reestablishing the land to ‘original condition,’ only to ‘equivalent land capability,’” (Pasqualetti 2009, p. 258). However, “because the government considers agricultural land the equivalent of forest land…oil sands companies have reclaimed mined land to use as pasture for bison rather than restoring it to the original boreal forest and muskeg” (Pasqualetti 2009, p. 258). Nor does the government have a “wetland policy requiring compensation for wetland loss in the boreal region” (Rooney, Bayley, and Schindler 2012, p. 4935). Additionally, “peatlands can require on the order of thousands to tens of thousands of years to form naturally and recovery to their original state is not viable with current methods” (Jordaan 2012, p.
The Alberta oil sands exist “within 140 000 km (54 000 square miles) of land in northern Alberta, an area comparable to the state of Florida” (Jordaan 2012, p. 3611). True to its name, it is “a mix of sand, water, and a heavy, viscous hydrocarbon called bitumen that can be converted to oil” (Tenenbaum 2009, p. 151). The former “Alberta Energy and Utilities Board estimated the amount of recoverable oil in Canada’s oil sands at 175 billion barrels, second only to Saudi Arabia’s reserves” (Tenenbaum 2009, p. 151). There are two main methods of extraction involved in oil sands operations:
Surface mining (~55% of current production) is used in shallow oil sands reserves using open-pit mines where the bitumen is then extracted using hot water. In situ production (~45 of current production) from underground reservoirs uses both cold and thermal technologies to recover and extract the bitumen and move it to the surface. There is no clear environmental winner between in situ and mining methods. (Bergerson and Keith 2010, p. 6010)
In a report by the Royal Society of Canada, “the panel cited substantial evidence that efforts to extract oil from the Alberta deposits have degraded air, land, and water quality to verifying degrees” (Weinhold 2011, p. 126). It was noted that “[t]he claims by some of the …show more content…
Reclamation is a method that is meant to “return landscapes to their predisturbance ecosystems” (Jordaan 2012, p. 3612). “This is of particular importance for oil sands mining, where large tracts of land are disturbed in high latitude areas where ecosystems are less productive and thus slower to regenerate” (Jordaan 2012, p. 3612-3613). Researchers have criticized claims by the oil industry that they will return the land to the way they found it as “greenwashing” (Rooney, Bayley, and Schindler 2012, p. 4927). Unfortunately, the current reclamation policies used by the government do not necessarily result in the land being restored. Current government policies “do not call for reestablishing the land to ‘original condition,’ only to ‘equivalent land capability,’” (Pasqualetti 2009, p. 258). However, “because the government considers agricultural land the equivalent of forest land…oil sands companies have reclaimed mined land to use as pasture for bison rather than restoring it to the original boreal forest and muskeg” (Pasqualetti 2009, p. 258). Nor does the government have a “wetland policy requiring compensation for wetland loss in the boreal region” (Rooney, Bayley, and Schindler 2012, p. 4935). Additionally, “peatlands can require on the order of thousands to tens of thousands of years to form naturally and recovery to their original state is not viable with current methods” (Jordaan 2012, p.