The Athabasca Oil Sands In 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 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).

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

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.

This 1.4 trillion-dollar industry has been able to benefit Albertans. To elaborate, Alberta’s upstream energy sector, which mainly includes the oil sands, conventional oil as well as gas and mining has provided 133,053 jobs for Alberta residents, according to Statistics Canada. As well, having the third largest oil reserves in the world, Canada is able to use the oil reserves as a trading asset, as it is currently providing 1.4 million barrels of oil to the USA everyday, which is equivalent to $49.7 million at current stock prices. As well, $52 billion dollars in royalty were accounted for during 2013-14. In this way, the oil sands industry provides jobs, billions of dollars in royalties and boosts national income and prosperity through the trading of this resource. This affects my stakeholder since this would give Ed Stlemech a healthy financial resume/profile to an otherwise terrible environmental and societal resume while he was Alberta’s

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.

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

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

This affects local population settlements along the banks. The production of the oil sands is a human rights issue as it effects local drinking water , an environmental issue with the destruction of local wildlife and an first nations people issue. By and large the general public in Canada and the United States do not know what is going on in northern Alberta. The public still does not fully comprehend how First Nations communities are the most negatively affected. First Nation Canadians live very close to the oil sands , mostly along the Athabasca River basin area. These are the First Nations communities of Fort McMurray, Fort Chipewyan and Fort McKay. The oil sand production plants around Fort McMurray and Fort McKay are located north along the Athabasca river . Currently oil sands production and storage of toxic waste has completely changed the Athabasca river and surrounding wetlands. This production and storage has caused de-forestation , toxic contamination of rivers and wetlands and disruption of wild life habitats. These changes to the environment have disturbed the way of life that people in these communities grew up on , currently the levels of mercury and lead in the Athabasca river are high enough that residents will not eat the fish in the river.

Along with greenhouse gases, other pollutants are released into the air during oil sands operations. These pollutants are harmful to ambient air quality and human health. In the Alberta oil sands, regional air quality is mainly impacted by the production of nitrogen dioxide and nitric oxide (NOx gases) (“Air Emissions,” 2015). NOx gases are primarily produced by fuel combustion in vehicles and react to form smog and acid rain (NOx gases in diesel car,” 2015). Consequently, these gases project a concern to the workers present that are mining the oil sands. This is because NOx gases overtime can lead to reduced lung function and breathing problems (NOx gases in diesel car,” 2015). Finally, these gases pose a threat to local wildlife and vegetation since they react to form acid rain in the atmosphere. The production of acid rain is harmful for the ecosystems present. This is especially true for aquatic ecosystems and overtime will lead to death of local wildlife. To conclude, the development of the oil sands is unfavorable due to the production of harmful gases. The development impacts global climate negatively due to increased greenhouse gas

Canadian is a major oil producer within the world. Therefore, any oil related news or research should be intriguing for the Canadian economy. Would a rise in oil prices instantly lead to more oil production within Canada? How much oil is too much oil for Canada? Is producing from the oil sands safe for Canada’s environment? Rising oil production (from rising oil prices worldwide) would definitely help that the Canadian oil industry. However, one must remember that a large amount of Canadians do not see the benefits

This is because it needs to generate a lot of water to get the natural gas to heat and properly melt the oil out of the sand. In fact this crude oil ingests 3 barrels of water for every one barrel it produces. As a consequence lakes become polluted. In addition, Canadian refineries are not proficient enough of processing the bitumen in the tar sands. This means as a result a great amount of the crude oil is directed directly to the US gulf coast.(scott,89)

Suncor was founded in 1919 in Montreal, and originally incorporated as Sun Company of Canada, (Subsidiary of Sun Oil). It stayed as such until 1979, at which point the name ‘Suncor’ came to fruition through the merging of Great Canadian Oil Sands, and its conventional gas and oil interests. Suncor Energy is an integrated energy company that specializes in the production of synthetic crude oil from oil sands in Calgary, Alberta.

Oil Drilling has many effects on the environment from the air we breathe to the oceans that inhabit many species. While one of the outcomes of oil drilling is money, it is forgotten that money won’t help repair all of the damage that is done to mother nature. Not only does the outcome of drilling for fossil fuels affect the oceans, rainforest, etc. it also has an effect on local business’ and the health of humans. If people want change, they need to be the