Greenwashed
Just so you know that the Obama administration isn’t the only government out there mistakenly conflating environmental issues with energy issues. Canada, or at least parts of Canada, are attempting to “greenwash” the tar oil sands of the western provinces by essentially saying, “hey, come on, they’re not that bad, right?”.
Well, um, they are, incidentally. Leaving aside the whole greenhouse gas issue, complicated by that fact that as much energy has to be used to extract the oil in the tar sands as is likely to be actually extracted, from a habitat perspective it’s a complete disaster. For starters, before you can even get to the oil deposits you have to clearcut the boreal forests and strip the topsoil from acres of land. While the oil industry claims that boreal forest will eventually reclaim these disturbed areas, there’s no evidence that this is true on any significant scale, as of the 160 square miles disturbed only 25 have been “reclaimed”. Not to mention the ponds of toxic runoff, by products of the active mining, that fool migratory birds into making a rest-stop they’ll never recover from.
Readers are no doubt aware of the importance of the Canadian boreal forests as incubators for so many of the species we love, especially North America’s great wood-warblers. This ecosystem is already under threat from logging interests who have been making slow but steady work turning the trees into glossy advertisements and toilet paper. The intensification of the oil sand industry would be another nail in the coffin of what is one of the last complete ecosystems on the continent.
But that’s just one blogger’s opinion. In the end, why should mine count any more than those found by Jacobs Consultancy and TIAX that found oil sand mining was not as bad as feared? Well, it just so happenes they were both funded by the Alberta Energy Research Institute, originally called the Alberta Oil Sands Information Service.
And you know me, friends. I’m not on the take.
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The sad reality – in my opinion – is that the oil sands will definitely be mined completely, it is just a matter of time.
This – our – society is so dependent on oil not just for transport and energy but also as a very vital raw material for all sorts of things like pharmaceutics, laboratory material, synthetics and plastics etc. that such a huge depot will not go unexploited. If not now, then as soon as the easier oil sources start running dry in what is a few decades at best. Eventually, people will be willing to invest a huge amount of work, efforts and energy not to get to the energy that's stored in the sands but for the hydrocarbon themselves that they need as a chemical raw material.
Nature conservation bodies should thus establish a strategy for the boreal forests that includes the complete mining of the oil sands.
@Jochen- Ugh, yes, I know. Sad but true.
Geez, did I just spell D-O-O-M using something like 600 letters?
It seems more realistic and rational to find ways of extracting the oil from the sands without causing so much environmental disasters like the huge poisonous "lakes".
If we cannot prevent the area from being destroyed, we should try and roll with the punshes and therefore need to find ways of making it less of an environmental catastrophy. This includes the extraction technique as well as the restoration techniques.
On the bright side: the warblers might not be able to use the destroyed lands for a couple' hundred years or so but hopefully the Clay-coloured Sparrows will like the areas?
Lame shot at taking a bit of comfort, I know.
There are actually two methods for extracting tar sands oil. One is the strip mining method that you referenced. The other involves pumping steam deep under ground so that tar will melt enough to be pumped to the surface. As you can imagine, the latter is a disaster for local aquifers. It's hard to tell which one is worse.
There is also a human component in this because a lot of First Peoples are dependent on the natural resources in the area.