16. The Alberta Oil Sands
20% - Surface Mines
80% - In Situ (SAGD)
17. “There is nothing on this planet that compares with the
destruction going on there. If there were a global prize
for unsustainable development, the tar sands
would be the clear winner.”
~David Schindler, ecology professor at the University of Alberta
20. “Overburden”
Since operations began, tar sands extractors have
moved more than 1.4 billion tons of what industry
calls “overburden” – which is actually pristine Boreal
forest. This is more dirt than was moved for the Great
Wall of China, the Suez Canal, the Great Pyramid of
Cheops and the 10 largest dams in the world ….
combined.
21. “Tailings Ponds”
- Cover an area over 170 square kilometres
- Annual licensed oil sands withdrawals are equal to a city of 3
million
- Everyday tailing ponds leech over 11 million litres of toxic
contaminants into the Athabasca watershed & Mackenzie River
Basin
“Tailings Ponds”
22. Steam Plants (SAGD)
A Larger
Environmental
Footprint than
surface mining
80% of recoverable
tar sands deposits
will be extracted by In
Situ
25. Next slide shows simulation of future development footprint based development of
existing leases
26.
27.
28. Land Impacts
As of 2009, 686 km2 of land had been lost to surface
mining (up from 470 km2 in 2007). After 50 years of
operations, only 0.16% of land has been certified as
reclaimed
Approximately 9.4 hectares of land or 18 football fields are
consumed for each million barrels of oil. At current
production rates, that represents 13 football fields of
pristine boreal lost each day.
In Situ threatens more land than mining and represnets
80% of future ‘developments’