How Do Oil Sands Affect Canada

To what extent does the Athabasca Oil Sands take responsibility in promoting environmental stewardship? The Oil Sands are a mixture of sand, water, clay and bitumen. Bitumen is oil that is too heavy or thick to flow or be pumped without being diluted or heated. Throughout many decades, the environment has become a critical concern, and the responsibility the Oil Sands has taken is preposterous. The GHG (greenhouse gas emissions) emissions that are released into the environment undermines its practices. The only way environmental stewardship can be encouraged, is if the Oil Sands discontinues its oil development. Other alternatives such as stricter rules and regulations should be placed by the government of Alberta to ameliorate the environment.

The Alberta tar sands, is currently the largest construction project taking place in the world, and as such is a very important

Canada ranks among the leading energy producers in the world, through oil production. These oil deposits rank oil sands of Canada as the largest oil deposits in the world after the Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. The only challenge with the oil sand deposits is that oil deposits are seen as unconventional. In effect, tar sands are recognized as one of the dirtiest energy sources in the world (Bailey & Droitsch, 2015). This fact is founded on the production factor; in producing one barrel of tar sands oil, the hazardous emissions are three to five times that of producing the equivalent of conventional oil. The Alberta oil sands are viewed as the single largest economic project in human history. The Canadian government and oil

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 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 question that has arisen from this shift is whether or not the Canadian oil and gas industry inclusive of the upstream, and midstream sectors, has a net positive benefit to Canada. This essay will explore and seek to understand the myriad of issues that this industry faces daily.

A canadian oil boom is negatively affecting animals humans and the environment. Studies show that cancer rates near the mine are up by thirty percent. Oil pollution in Alberta, Canada can cause cancer, negatively affecting native americans and poisoning bird eggs with toxic levels mercury.

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 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

II. The problem exists in northern Alberta, where large deposits of oil exist. The oil is costly to extract, but high prices have made this process viable in recent years. The environmental problems are created during the extraction process. The oil is removed from the sands by mixing it with hot water, skimming off the bitumen, and then centrifuging the bitumen (Oil Sands Centre, 2009). This process is energy-intensive, and byproducts end up in the atmosphere or in tailing ponds that threaten the local watershed. Sulfur dioxide in particular is a major pollutant that results from the process and causes acid rain. Nitrogen oxide and volatile organic compounds are also created in the

The damage caused by extraction of these oil sands is not a theoretical problem. Over the past sixteen years more than two million acres of the Canadian boreal forest has been cleared to extract these sands (Nikiforuk). Not only does the extraction process cut down trees it also produces more greenhouse gasses than the extraction of crude oil, and leaves polluted residue across the extraction sight. These contaminants then spread to surrounding bodies of water. Once these contaminants have reached these water supplies they have an immediate effect on wildlife. Fish have been found with cancerous growths in rivers near extraction sites (Forrest). From this we should infer that not only has this oil mining had a negative on wildlife, but it could also pose health risks to local residents near the extraction sites. Though there is little Americans can do to prevent Canada’s current extraction. By not installing the

There are great economic opportunity for the province of Alberta as well as satisfying the global need for oil. The oil sands carry with it a lot of ethical and environmental concerns because unlike regular oil that can be pumped direction from the ground, the extraction process have proved to be dangerously hazardous to human, environment, and other biodiversity. The development of this oil sands have also caused great changes to the way of life of First Nations and well as health risks. The process of extraction starts with digging huge amount of sand-bitumen mixture from the earth’s surface and then heating with hot water to separate the sands, bitumen, and other minerals. The bitumen is kept for oil and the slurry mixture of sand, oil, water is then return to the mine. It takes about 2 tons of sands to make 1 barrel of oil and only about 75% of bitumen can be extracted from the sands. In areas where oil sands is too deep for strip mining, a process known as “in situ”, or in place, is used by drilling deep into the ground and releasing hot steam or other heat inducing technology to release the bitumen from the sands which can then be pumped out. The extraction process requires huge amount energy to run heavy machinery and to heating water and steam making the break-even cost of $57 making it much higher Saudi

Canada holds the distinction of having World 's 3rd largest proven Oil reserves. The province of Alberta alone contains 98% of all these reserves, discovered in Canada (1). This is why Alberta holds the key position in Canadian economy as Canada is the fourth largest exporter of the oil and it makes up almost one-quarter of Canada 's exports as well as Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Almost 99% of Alberta oil reserves are contained in oil sands and the remaining 1% are present as conventional crude oil. According to an estimation, Oil sands contain up to 168 billion barrels of oil and conventional crude oil makes up to 1.5 billion barrels (1). But, with the passage of time, there has been a shift in the global economy with the

Before Canada was Canada, the first nations used the tarry material to patch up the canoes. Tar sand’s has been a part of the Canadian history for a long time. Through the progression of the tar sands, Canada has found itself at the forefront for domestic oil production. The history of the Canadian oil sands has changed, the economic, environmental, and equity development of Canada. The oil sands is primarily located in northeastern Alberta. The tar sands are located in the three main deposits: the Athabasca, Peace River, and Cold Lake. Tar sands, also known as oil sands and heavy oil, are a mixture of 84-88% sand and mineral – rich clays, 4 % water and 8-12% bitumen. Bitumen is essentially to our gas, and through an extensive process of separating and stabilize the compounds, it can then be sent off the refinery plants for customer’s consumption. Bitumen is a dense, sticky, semisolid that is about 83% carbon. […]Tar sands can be divided roughly into three categories, depending on their viscosity” . The high viscosity of the substance means that, unlike conventional oil reserves that can be pumped directly from the ground, oil sands must undergo more advanced production methods. Alberta 's oil sands represent a gigantic and untapped oil reserve that could supply all of Canada 's energy needs for centuries. Alberta; soil sand’s deposit contain between 1.75 and 2.5 trillion barrels of oil – approximately 200 billion barrels of which are recoverable with current technology .

A significant increase in oil price would have little impact on Canadian overall output but large regional and sectoral implications. The oil-producing provinces would benefit from rising income while the oil-consuming ones would suffer due to the higher cost of living and production. This would also lead to reallocation of capital and labor across energy and other industries. Potential impacts are expected to be more pronounced in the long run than in the short run because of relative inelasticity of oil demand and supply in the short run.