1. Alberta has the second biggest recoverable oil patch in the world after Saudi Arabia, which hides underneath Canada’s boreal forest. Indeed, the Albertan oil patch consists of tar sands, also referred as oil sand, a combination of clay, sand, water and bitumen – a thick and sticky form of crude oil. Tar sands are mined and transported to extraction installations, where the oil-rich bitumen is extracted from the mixture. Alberta holds at least 175 billion barrels of crude bitumen throughout its vast territory, thus the industry disturbs a 149 000 square kilometers area – about the size of England –, where the land was removed due to the mining required to access the oil sands. The bitumen is separated from the mixture by using large amounts of fresh water – about four barrels of water to produce one barrel of oil – and is heated by natural gas, thus requiring larger quantities of energy and water than conventional extraction. Indeed, the industry itself results in the emission of more carbon dioxide in a year than all Canadian cars combined, thus accelerating climate change at an alarming rate. The Albertan industry exploits the water from the Athabasca River, which is fed by the Canadian Rocky Mountains’ glacier, which shrinks at a frightening rate and is further endangered by the carbon emission of the industry. Therefore, the extraction of oil sands in Alberta results in a cycle of consumption that truly endangers the environment. The clay and minerals from the oil
The Athabasca Delta is a breeding ground for species of birds, which was destroyed to clear the land for oil development. These development practices are a leading factor towards increases in pollution. A scientific panel stated on Tuesday that pollution must be corrected, as there are major debates against the oil sands development. Proponents argue that business through the Oil Sands has made Canada a major player in foreign supplement. Unemployment rates have decreased across Canada and companies generate huge profits. The Alberta Oil Sands provide Canada with a secure source of energy. Throughout the world, Canadian oil reserves are the second largest in the world. Oil mining operations in Canada also help create more trading partnerships with different countries. This is a great way Canada can strengthen relationships and ties with various nation-states. The Oil Sands is a stabilizing force for Canada’s economy, yet it has a tremendous effect on the environment. Corporations are held responsible for their actions, and environmental protection should be their main concern. The procedures that the Oil Sands has taken are not effective, to an extent, where the pace of investment and development in the oil sands
The Alberta tar sands, is currently the largest construction project taking place in the world, and as such is a very important
The oil production in Canada has several significant issues that depict the destruction nature of the industry. These issues can be categorized as environmental, political, economic, and social. The environmental issues lead the pack; in that the environmental destruction associated with the industry is extensive. The environmental problems are climatic, land, water and air related (Best & Hoberg, 2015). Under climatic effect, studies indicate that the development of the tar sides has resulted to three times more greenhouse gases (GHGs) than in production of conventional oil. These environmental issues are caused by the composition of the tar sands. Unlike the convention oil, tar sands are a mixture of bitumen and sand. The process of separating the two results triples GHGs emissions when compared to conventional oil production (Koring, 2013).
For centuries, humans have had the unsatisfiable desire for more. This is seen quite often throughout history, with a common characteristic being that the environment or some people are negatively affected, usually with longterm effects, in mankind’s quest to satisfy their lust. A modern day example of this is seen in Alberta’s oil sands, as well as in James Cameron’s sciencefiction film Avatar. Alberta oil sands have the third largest oil reserves in the world, making up over 20% of Alberta. The oil industry is a staple part of our economy, as we rely heavily on it. However, in order to get to the bitumenrich oil sands, countless trees have been cut down, and many people in northern Alberta have been affected, including over 20 indigenous groups.
The social community improvements of alberta as a result of the oil sands. The albertan government committed around 2.5 billion dollars in fixing up the communities of alberta as a result of the oil sands making so much money(Alberta government,march 15 2013). Some examples of this are the 1 billion in road projects, 241 million in building new neighbourhoods, and 103 million in wastewater treatment and to improve the old ones(Alberta government,march 15 2013). Air is rated good 99% of the time, drinking water consistently meets the the guidelines for canadian drinking water(Alberta government,march 15 2013). Which means the quality of life is good in the oilsands region. In conclusion the oil sands affect the communities of that region positively, by bringing in enough money to make improvements to the infrastructure.
Dr. Lorne Taylor (2012, p. 3), the chair of the Alberta Water Research Institute, states, “Organizations like Greenpeace and the Sierra Club are convincing Canadians and the world that Alberta’s oil sands are a scourge on the environment”. Environmental groups and the media are unfortunately shedding a poor light on the development of the oil sands in northern Alberta. Bob Weinhold (2011, pg. 119), a veteran environmental journalist, states “the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) panel found no evidence that people are currently being harmed by oil sands activity”. Both the environmentalist side and the oil sands producer’s side must be evaluated with an objective mind as each contains truths as well as embellishments. Taylor (2009, pg. 2) argues that a major misconception is “the province, people and industry of Alberta
The Alberta Oil Sands have affected many stakeholder groups such as government, residents, researchers and employees. However, we will focus on how it affects the Alberta Government; specifically, Ed Stlemech of the Conservative Government. As my stake holder, Ed Stlemech does not live within the Alberta Oil Sands area as well as have any direct relevance to it, I will instead examine how it has affects the citizens of Alberta and more importantly, those who live in and near the Fort Chipewyan area. In this way, the environmental, the economical as well as the societal impacts will impact Albertan voters and therefore impact the Conservative Government in way of the Alberta General Election.
The Alberta oil sands are a large contributor to the pollution of the air and water. They're responsible for 9.3% of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions and 0.13% of global emissions. The oil sands already produce a large amount of air pollution but the emissions are
In “Tarmageddon: Dirty oil is turning Canada into a corrupt petro-state,” Andrew Nikiforuk argues that the Canadian oil industry has harmed Canada’s environmental, political and economical images. First, Canada starts to be regarded as having a defensive attitude towards environmental issues since the Bitumen has been explored. Regardless of the Bitumen’s high cost and emission, Canada still welcomes billions of foreign investment in the Bitumen. Consequently, newly operated industries begin to destroy the forest and generate toxic waste (even into water). While refining oil, lots of energy and freshwater are squandered, outpouring a considerable amount of carbon emission. Hence, Canadian oil industry has been pictured as a “carbon-making
Diverse and multi-faceted, the Canadian business market is one of the strongest functioning mixed market economies in the world. Within the Canadian economy, the oil and gas sector stands as one of the largest and most influential sectors. The oil and gas industry is unique as it affects almost every person and sector of the economy worldwide, whether it is through commodity or material input costs. In Canada, this growing industry could allow for the country to be the one of the “biggest energy producers in the world” leading to a massive paradigm shift globally.
Countries having the bituminous sand but the wide range of this sand are finding in Canada. The research show that this company is important for economy and showing robust future in the future because in 2004, the processing of engineered unrefined petroleum (SCO) and natural rough bitumen spoke to 41 percent of aggregate Canadian oil generation. At an accepted WTI cost of $32 for every barrel, the oil sands generation is relied upon to expand three fold by 2017, helping considerably more than 50% of Alberta's oil supply. The normal elevated amount of oil action ought to prompt gigantic budgetary development in the district and in addition in the area. The number of inhabitants in the locale (i.e., Wood Buffalo-Cold Lake Economic Region7) has expanded by 8 percent between 2000 and 2004. This contrasts and a development of 7 percent for the region, and 5 percent for the country over the same period. The development and improvement in the oil sands industry at the provincial level affects the common, national
While the Alberta oil sands are critical to the Canadian economy, environmental policies must be strengthened in order to diminish the immense risk in the transportation of crude oil, the harming of human health, and the deterioration of the surrounding
The Tar Sands Disaster is a piece of content written by Thomas Homer-Dixon. His purpose on writing the piece was to help bring awareness on the potential environmental damages that are caused by tar sands production in Canada. Thomas explains that Canada is using pipelines (specifically the Keystone XL pipeline) to export tar sands to the United States, and while it does help the economy financially, it harms the environment. Thomas hopes for his readers to go against the tar sands industry, and help shut it down. His target audience is Canadians. He claimed that even though many Canadians are against tar sands production, they cannot have open conversations about the problem, due to the fact that the Conservatives attack researchers for climate
Modern day Canada is posed with the current issues of energy and the environment becoming increasingly important within the public and political sectors. The impetus has come from a variety of factors such as the collective development of nonconventional resources, the environmental concern of Canadians, and the demand for renewable energy sources. Many premiers have since called for a ‘national energy strategy’ however the governments tendency to avoid national approaches to energy allows no progression to be made. This has become largely apparent in the current debates over Alberta’s bitumen deposits. The Alberta government has advocated for a ‘national energy strategy’ led by Ottawa placing their political emphasis on the need for Canada to achieve a vision of environmental supremacy. This paper seeks to investigate the clashes of interprovincial trade and commerce powers with the provinces natural resource power debates over Alberta’s bitumen deposits in conjunction with the general Canadians feeling of a lack of democracy.
The other adverse effect of the Canadian oil sands is that pipelines and massive processes of refining oil sands in Canada are a source of pollution that pose a great threat to air, water, and land as well as human health. Additionally, the use of its products like natural gas that is used to run medium-sized turbines that produce electricity releases greenhouse gases. These emissions are mostly produced when steam is injected to reduce the viscosity of the crude and during refining. These further increases to the global warming effect that is already out of hand and it also negates the gains made by society by exposing them to the adverse negative