J
Joe S.
Guest
How Canada Went from 21st to 2nd in World's Oil Reserves
By Dan Woynillowicz, World Watch
Posted on September 17, 2007, Printed on September 17, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/62325/
It's well-known that the United States consumes more oil per capita than any
other country in the world, absorbing two-thirds of global oil production.
This heavy dependence has often, and aptly, been described as an addiction;
even U.S. President George W. Bush trotted out the metaphor in his 2006
State of the Union address ("America is addicted to oil").
Most of us regard addictions (to anything) as inherently unhealthy and
admission of the problem as the first step toward getting clean. In this
case, however, U.S. policy has simply been to seek increased oil imports
from more reliable sources closer to home, in effect, to replace distant and
unstable dealers with one from the neighborhood -- specifically, Canada,
already the kingpin dealer of oil to the United States. In 2005 Canada
exported almost 1.5 million barrels per day to the United States, about 7
percent of U.S. daily consumption. Canada exports 66 percent of its domestic
crude oil production, and since 1995 the United States has received 99
percent of these exports. At first glance, it would seem that Canada
wouldn't be able to boost oil production to fill the gap; production of
conventional light and heavy oil in Canada was predicted to peak in 2006 and
then rapidly decline. But that's where Canada's "unconventional" tar sands
come in.
Production
The vast bulk of Canada's tar sands is found in the province of Alberta, the
country's most prolific producer of fossil fuels. The tar sands deposits
underlie more than 140,000 square kilometers of relatively pristine boreal
forest, an area larger than the state of Florida. It's estimated that the
tar sands hold approximately 1.7 trillion barrels of crude bitumen (the
technical term for the fossil fuel extracted from the tar sands). But most
of this bitumen will never be recovered and only a fraction, 174 billion
barrels, is estimated to be recoverable with today's technology and under
current and anticipated economic conditions.
When the U.S. Department of Energy formally acknowledged these reserves in
2003, it vaulted Canada's oil reserves from 21st to 2nd in the world, behind
only Saudi Arabia. It's little wonder then that the U.S. Energy Policy
Development Group has described the tar sands as "a pillar of sustained
North American energy and economic security." Canada's so-called "black
gold" has come to be regarded as an abundant, secure, and affordable source
of crude oil. But development of this unconventional fossil fuel comes with
unconventional risks and consequences. Everything about the tar sands is
big, most significantly its global warming and environmental implications --
leading some to now describe the tar sands as "Canada's dirty secret."
Producing oil from the tar sands is scraping the bottom of the oil barrel.
Tar sands consist of a mixture of 85 percent sand, clay, and silt; 5 percent
water; and 10 percent crude bitumen, the tarlike substance that can be
converted to oil. Bitumen doesn't flow like crude oil, and getting it out of
the tar sands is a messy job. The current technology, which has evolved
relatively little since it was first developed in the early 20th century, is
a hot water-based separation process that requires huge quantities of water
and energy (see diagram). Imagine mixing a bucket of roofing tar into a
child's sandbox. Then boil some water, pour it into the sandbox, and try to
wash the tar out of the sand.
Most tar sands production takes place in vast open-pit mines, some as large
as 150 square kilometers and as deep as 90 meters. Before strip-mining can
begin, the boreal forest must be clear-cut, rivers and streams diverted, and
wetlands drained. The overburden (the soil, rocks, and clay overlying the
tar sands deposit) must be stripped away and stockpiled to reach the
bitumen. Four tons of material are moved to produce every barrel of bitumen.
At current production rates, with just three mines operating, enough
material is moved every two days to fill a 60,000-seat stadium. But only a
small fraction of the bitumen deposits is close enough to the surface to be
strip-mined. Over 80 percent of the established tar sands reserves are
deeper and must be extracted in situ (in place) by injecting high-pressure
steam into the ground to soften the bitumen so it can be pumped to the
surface.
Once separated from the sand, the bitumen is still a low-grade, heavy fossil
fuel that must undergo an energy-intensive process to upgrade it into a
synthetic crude oil more like conventional crude, either by adding hydrogen
or removing carbon. Upgrading the bitumen usually occurs before it is
shipped to refineries, but sometimes raw bitumen is diluted (e.g., with
naphtha) and pipelined to a refinery where it is both upgraded and refined.
In the United States about three-quarters of the oil is refined into
transportation fuels.
But even then not just any refinery will do. A certain amount of
reconfiguring must occur at refineries more accustomed to handling
conventional crude oil. Some American refineries, primarily in the Midwest
and the Rocky Mountain region, already accept some synthetic crude oil from
the tar sands. But with growing reliance on this source of oil, numerous
American refineries are converting or expanding in order to handle tar
sands-derived synthetic crude oil or raw bitumen.
Impacts
The environmental consequences of oil production from tar sands are major,
beginning with its effect on climate change. North America's transition to
oil from the tar sands not only perpetuates, but actually worsens, emissions
of greenhouse gas pollution from oil consumption.
While the end products from conventional oil and tar sands are the same
(mostly transportation fuels), producing a barrel of synthetic crude oil
from the tar sands releases up to three times more greenhouse gas pollution
than conventional oil. This is a result of the huge amount of energy
(primarily from burning natural gas) required to generate the heat needed to
extract bitumen from the tar sands and upgrade it into synthetic crude. The
energy equivalent of one barrel of oil is required to produce just three
barrels of oil from the tar sands.
In 2002 the Canadian government ratified the Kyoto Protocol on global
warming, legally committing to a target of reducing the country's greenhouse
gas pollution by 6 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. But the rapid growth
of tar sands development and oil industry lobbying have undermined efforts
to reduce greenhouse gas pollution for over a decade.
Since 1990, Canada's total emissions have risen 25.3 percent, a pace far
exceeding the 16.3 percent increase in the United States, the
second-fastest-rising nation, according to United Nations data. Regulations
introduced in early 2007 are so fraught with loopholes and gaps that
greenhouse gas pollution from tar sands is predicted to triple by 2020.
Canada's greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 are projected to be 2 percent
above 1990 levels. The environmental consequences of tar sands development
hardly stop with climate change. Nowhere in the world is there a form of oil
extraction and processing with more intense impacts on forests and wildlife,
freshwater resources and air quality.
Forests. The tar sands are found beneath boreal forest, a complex ecosystem
that comprises a unique mosaic of forest, wetlands and lakes. Canada's
boreal forest is globally significant, representing one-quarter of the
world's remaining intact forests. Beyond the ecosystem services it provides
(cleansing water, producing oxygen and storing carbon), it is home to a wide
variety of wildlife, including bears, wolves, lynx and some of the largest
populations of woodland caribou left in the world. Its wetlands and lakes
provide critical habitat for 30 percent of North America's songbirds and 40
percent of its waterfowl.
If currently planned tar sands development projects unfold as expected,
approximately 3,000 square kilometers of boreal forest could be cleared,
drained and strip-mined to access tar sands deposits close to the surface,
while the remaining 137,000 square kilometers could be fragmented into a
spider's web of seismic lines, roads, pipelines and well pads from in situ
drilling projects. Studies suggest that this scale of industrial development
could push the boreal ecosystem over its ecological tipping point, leading
to irreversible ecological damage and loss of biodiversity.
Satellite images readily illustrate the magnitude of boreal forest impacts
from tar sands mining operations. The United Nations Environment Program has
identified Alberta's tar sands mines as one of 100 key global "hotspots" of
environmental degradation. According to Environment Canada (the Canadian
equivalent to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), development of the
tar sands presents "staggering challenges for forest conservation and
reclamation."
Very little of the area directly affected by mining operations has been
reclaimed, and after 40 years of mining, not a single operation has received
a reclamation certificate from the government of Alberta. Suncor Energy's
operation, the longest-operating tar sands mine, says it has reclaimed 858
hectares of land since starting operations in 1967, less than 9 percent of
the land its operations have disturbed to date. Syncrude Canada, the largest
daily producer of tar sands, says its operations have disturbed 18,653
hectares since 1978, with just 4,055 hectares of land reclaimed. None of
this reclaimed land has been certified as such. At best, reclamation of the
tar sands region will be a large-scale experiment that is unlikely to
restore a self-sustaining boreal forest ecosystem within the next century.
Waters. The Athabasca River winds nearly 1,500 kilometers from its source at
the Athabasca Glacier in Jasper National Park to Lake Athabasca in Wood
Buffalo National Park. It is Alberta's longest river and one of North
America's longest undammed rivers. It enters Lake Athabasca at the
Peace-Athabasca Delta, the largest boreal delta in the world, a World
Heritage Site, and one of the most important waterfowl nesting and staging
areas in North America.
It also passes directly through the boreal forest being cleared and
strip-mined, and serves as the primary source of water used to separate the
bitumen from the mined tar sands. Water withdrawals for tar sands surface
mining operations pose threats to both the sustainability of fish
populations in the Athabasca River and to the sustainability of the
Peace-Athabasca Delta, jeopardizing the subsistence and commercial fisheries
of local aboriginals.
Tar sands mining operations withdraw 2-4.5 barrels of fresh water from the
river for every barrel of oil they produce. Current operations are permitted
to withdraw more than 349 million cubic meters of water per year, a volume
equivalent to the amount required by a city of 2 million people. But unlike
city effluent waters, which are treated and released back into the river,
tar sands mining effluent becomes so contaminated that it must be impounded.
Historically it was believed that the Athabasca River had sufficient water
flows to meet the needs of tar sands operations. But it is becoming clearer
that this might not be the case, particularly during the winter months, when
river flows are naturally lower and growing demand for water withdrawals
could lead to long-term ecological impacts. The sustainability of fish
populations in the Athabasca River is threatened by continuous tar sands
water withdrawals during the winter months in years when low precipitation
rates in the Athabasca River basin lead to low flow conditions. Nonetheless,
the government has failed to implement regulations that would require tar
sands withdrawals to stop when the health of the river is at risk. In fact,
the government explicitly allows the tar sands industry to continue
withdrawing water no matter how low the river flows become.
For certain in situ drilling operations, significant amounts of water are
required to create steam to be injected underground. Because the steam
condenses into water and is pumped up with the bitumen, the water can be
recycled. However, because some water remains underground, a continuous
source of additional water (about half a barrel of water per barrel of
bitumen) is required.
These operations are located much farther from the river and, as a result,
rely mainly upon groundwater. Where shallower freshwater aquifers are used,
the continuous pumping of water can lower the water table in the region.
Because these groundwater aquifers are connected to lakes, rivers and
wetlands, reducing their levels can cause lakes to shrink and wetlands to
dry out. As a result, some operators have switched to deeper sources of
salty groundwater. But because they require fresh water, the salty water
must be treated, which produces large amounts of waste sludge that must be
disposed of.
Both tar sands mining and in situ operations produce large volumes of waste
as a result of their water use. For in situ operations, the primary waste
stream, a result of treating salt water and the water that is pumped up with
the bitumen, is disposed of in landfills or injected underground. Tar sands
mining operations present a much more significant risk, because they produce
large volumes of waste in the form of mine tailings (six barrels of tailings
per barrel of bitumen extracted). These tailings, a slurry of water, sand,
fine clay and residual bitumen, are stored in vast wastewater reservoirs.
The industry misleadingly refers to them as "tailings ponds," but
collectively these pools of waste cover more than 50 square kilometers and
are so extensive that they can be seen from space. One tailings pond at
Syncrude's mining operation is held in check by the third-largest dam in the
world. These tailings dumps pose an environmental threat resulting from the
migration of pollutants through the groundwater system and the risk of leaks
to the surrounding soil and surface water.
The high concentrations of pollutants such as naphthenic acids, which are
found at concentrations 100 times greater than in the natural environment,
are acutely toxic to aquatic life, yet the government has no water-quality
regulations for these substances. Migratory birds fare slightly better: To
prevent them from landing, propane cannon go off at random intervals and
scarecrows stand guard on floating barrels. How this tailings waste, and its
grave risks, might be dealt with in the long term remains unknown.
Air. Tar sands air pollution, both provincial and transboundary, is rapidly
increasing. Since 2003 Alberta has been the industrial air pollution capital
of Canada. Criteria Air Contaminants (CACs) are the most common air
pollutants released by heavy industry burning fossil fuels. CACs are defined
as "air pollutants that affect our health and contribute to air pollution
problems" and include such things as nitrogen oxides (NOX), sulfur dioxide
(SO2), volatile organic compounds and particulate matter, all of which are
emitted in large volumes by tar sands operations.
Modeling of the impacts of approved tar sands development, which includes
three operating mines and three operations at various stages of planning and
construction, shows that maximum predicted ambient air concentrations of NOX
and SO2 would exceed provincial, national and international guidelines.
Emissions of volatile organic compounds such as benzene are also on the rise
because of both emissions from burning fossil fuels (e.g., natural gas,
diesel, coke) and the growing number of tailings ponds. The costs of such
air pollution have not been considered.
The coming tar sands rush
Major global powers are positioning themselves to ensure access to oil from
tar sands. To date, four of the five largest publicly traded oil companies
in the world (Royal Dutch/Shell, ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, and TotalFina)
have invested or committed themselves to invest billions of dollars in tar
sands development. National oil companies have also staked their claim,
ranging from Norway's Statoil to China's Sinopec.
Tar sands speculation, investment and development has grown dramatically.
The oil industry's production target of 1 million barrels per day was
achieved in 2004, 16 years ahead of the ambitious schedule for growth it
laid out in 1995. That year the industry invested almost US$9 billion in
Alberta's tar sands. More than US$100 billion of investment has been
announced for development between 2006 and 2015.
The tar sands industry is now focused on quintupling production as quickly
as possible. It is projected that tar sands production will reach 3-4
million barrels per day by 2015 and could grow to 5 million barrels per day
by 2030, if not sooner. It is the prospect of this growth that has led
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to label Canada an "emerging energy
superpower."
The magnitude of the environmental risks and liabilities arising from
Canada's tar sands rush is unprecedented in the history of North American
energy production. Growing awareness about the global warming and
environmental consequences of relying upon growth in tar sands production
throws into sharp relief the perils of our addiction to oil in the 21st
century. All North Americans, including future generations, have a stake in
the outcome.
To address the impacts of tar sands production, a novel suite of government
policies and innovative technologies must be deployed that drastically
reduce the environmental impacts by achieving "carbon neutral" (no net
greenhouse gas pollution) production, ensuring that development doesn't
proceed any faster than reclamation of the boreal forest and reducing
dependence on scarce freshwater resources.
The most immediate opportunity to begin our rehabilitation lies in the more
efficient use of transportation fuels. To do so requires tackling another
sacred cow: the flagging North American auto industry, which is in trouble
partly because it is producing the wrong vehicles for the times. The abysmal
fuel-efficiency of North America's SUVs, trucks and cars has actually
declined since 1986.
The governments of the United States and Canada must collectively commit to
implementing regulations that will make North America a global leader in
fuel efficiency. By deploying more efficient technologies today, we can
begin to ease the demand for transportation fuels and slow the headlong rush
into extracting oil from the tar sands. This will afford policymakers and
the private sector the time needed to drive investment toward low-carbon and
no-carbon fuels, and to evolve our transportation systems and urban design
into a state that is compatible with a carbon-free future. North America
stands at a critical juncture in its transportation fuel future.
As conventional oil sources disappear, we face a stark choice: We can
develop new, even dirtier sources of transportation fuels derived from
fossil fuels like the tar sands, or we can set a course for a more
sustainable energy future by improving the efficiency of our oil consumption
while aggressively transitioning to clean and renewable transportation fuels
and sustainable transportation systems.
The environmental and global warming consequences of even 1 million barrels
per day of tar sands production must serve as a wake-up call, and we must
acknowledge that increased reliance upon this unconventional, high-impact
fossil fuel is not a viable path forward.
Dan Woynillowicz is a senior policy analyst with the Pembina Institute,
based in Calgary, Alberta.
By Dan Woynillowicz, World Watch
Posted on September 17, 2007, Printed on September 17, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/62325/
It's well-known that the United States consumes more oil per capita than any
other country in the world, absorbing two-thirds of global oil production.
This heavy dependence has often, and aptly, been described as an addiction;
even U.S. President George W. Bush trotted out the metaphor in his 2006
State of the Union address ("America is addicted to oil").
Most of us regard addictions (to anything) as inherently unhealthy and
admission of the problem as the first step toward getting clean. In this
case, however, U.S. policy has simply been to seek increased oil imports
from more reliable sources closer to home, in effect, to replace distant and
unstable dealers with one from the neighborhood -- specifically, Canada,
already the kingpin dealer of oil to the United States. In 2005 Canada
exported almost 1.5 million barrels per day to the United States, about 7
percent of U.S. daily consumption. Canada exports 66 percent of its domestic
crude oil production, and since 1995 the United States has received 99
percent of these exports. At first glance, it would seem that Canada
wouldn't be able to boost oil production to fill the gap; production of
conventional light and heavy oil in Canada was predicted to peak in 2006 and
then rapidly decline. But that's where Canada's "unconventional" tar sands
come in.
Production
The vast bulk of Canada's tar sands is found in the province of Alberta, the
country's most prolific producer of fossil fuels. The tar sands deposits
underlie more than 140,000 square kilometers of relatively pristine boreal
forest, an area larger than the state of Florida. It's estimated that the
tar sands hold approximately 1.7 trillion barrels of crude bitumen (the
technical term for the fossil fuel extracted from the tar sands). But most
of this bitumen will never be recovered and only a fraction, 174 billion
barrels, is estimated to be recoverable with today's technology and under
current and anticipated economic conditions.
When the U.S. Department of Energy formally acknowledged these reserves in
2003, it vaulted Canada's oil reserves from 21st to 2nd in the world, behind
only Saudi Arabia. It's little wonder then that the U.S. Energy Policy
Development Group has described the tar sands as "a pillar of sustained
North American energy and economic security." Canada's so-called "black
gold" has come to be regarded as an abundant, secure, and affordable source
of crude oil. But development of this unconventional fossil fuel comes with
unconventional risks and consequences. Everything about the tar sands is
big, most significantly its global warming and environmental implications --
leading some to now describe the tar sands as "Canada's dirty secret."
Producing oil from the tar sands is scraping the bottom of the oil barrel.
Tar sands consist of a mixture of 85 percent sand, clay, and silt; 5 percent
water; and 10 percent crude bitumen, the tarlike substance that can be
converted to oil. Bitumen doesn't flow like crude oil, and getting it out of
the tar sands is a messy job. The current technology, which has evolved
relatively little since it was first developed in the early 20th century, is
a hot water-based separation process that requires huge quantities of water
and energy (see diagram). Imagine mixing a bucket of roofing tar into a
child's sandbox. Then boil some water, pour it into the sandbox, and try to
wash the tar out of the sand.
Most tar sands production takes place in vast open-pit mines, some as large
as 150 square kilometers and as deep as 90 meters. Before strip-mining can
begin, the boreal forest must be clear-cut, rivers and streams diverted, and
wetlands drained. The overburden (the soil, rocks, and clay overlying the
tar sands deposit) must be stripped away and stockpiled to reach the
bitumen. Four tons of material are moved to produce every barrel of bitumen.
At current production rates, with just three mines operating, enough
material is moved every two days to fill a 60,000-seat stadium. But only a
small fraction of the bitumen deposits is close enough to the surface to be
strip-mined. Over 80 percent of the established tar sands reserves are
deeper and must be extracted in situ (in place) by injecting high-pressure
steam into the ground to soften the bitumen so it can be pumped to the
surface.
Once separated from the sand, the bitumen is still a low-grade, heavy fossil
fuel that must undergo an energy-intensive process to upgrade it into a
synthetic crude oil more like conventional crude, either by adding hydrogen
or removing carbon. Upgrading the bitumen usually occurs before it is
shipped to refineries, but sometimes raw bitumen is diluted (e.g., with
naphtha) and pipelined to a refinery where it is both upgraded and refined.
In the United States about three-quarters of the oil is refined into
transportation fuels.
But even then not just any refinery will do. A certain amount of
reconfiguring must occur at refineries more accustomed to handling
conventional crude oil. Some American refineries, primarily in the Midwest
and the Rocky Mountain region, already accept some synthetic crude oil from
the tar sands. But with growing reliance on this source of oil, numerous
American refineries are converting or expanding in order to handle tar
sands-derived synthetic crude oil or raw bitumen.
Impacts
The environmental consequences of oil production from tar sands are major,
beginning with its effect on climate change. North America's transition to
oil from the tar sands not only perpetuates, but actually worsens, emissions
of greenhouse gas pollution from oil consumption.
While the end products from conventional oil and tar sands are the same
(mostly transportation fuels), producing a barrel of synthetic crude oil
from the tar sands releases up to three times more greenhouse gas pollution
than conventional oil. This is a result of the huge amount of energy
(primarily from burning natural gas) required to generate the heat needed to
extract bitumen from the tar sands and upgrade it into synthetic crude. The
energy equivalent of one barrel of oil is required to produce just three
barrels of oil from the tar sands.
In 2002 the Canadian government ratified the Kyoto Protocol on global
warming, legally committing to a target of reducing the country's greenhouse
gas pollution by 6 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. But the rapid growth
of tar sands development and oil industry lobbying have undermined efforts
to reduce greenhouse gas pollution for over a decade.
Since 1990, Canada's total emissions have risen 25.3 percent, a pace far
exceeding the 16.3 percent increase in the United States, the
second-fastest-rising nation, according to United Nations data. Regulations
introduced in early 2007 are so fraught with loopholes and gaps that
greenhouse gas pollution from tar sands is predicted to triple by 2020.
Canada's greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 are projected to be 2 percent
above 1990 levels. The environmental consequences of tar sands development
hardly stop with climate change. Nowhere in the world is there a form of oil
extraction and processing with more intense impacts on forests and wildlife,
freshwater resources and air quality.
Forests. The tar sands are found beneath boreal forest, a complex ecosystem
that comprises a unique mosaic of forest, wetlands and lakes. Canada's
boreal forest is globally significant, representing one-quarter of the
world's remaining intact forests. Beyond the ecosystem services it provides
(cleansing water, producing oxygen and storing carbon), it is home to a wide
variety of wildlife, including bears, wolves, lynx and some of the largest
populations of woodland caribou left in the world. Its wetlands and lakes
provide critical habitat for 30 percent of North America's songbirds and 40
percent of its waterfowl.
If currently planned tar sands development projects unfold as expected,
approximately 3,000 square kilometers of boreal forest could be cleared,
drained and strip-mined to access tar sands deposits close to the surface,
while the remaining 137,000 square kilometers could be fragmented into a
spider's web of seismic lines, roads, pipelines and well pads from in situ
drilling projects. Studies suggest that this scale of industrial development
could push the boreal ecosystem over its ecological tipping point, leading
to irreversible ecological damage and loss of biodiversity.
Satellite images readily illustrate the magnitude of boreal forest impacts
from tar sands mining operations. The United Nations Environment Program has
identified Alberta's tar sands mines as one of 100 key global "hotspots" of
environmental degradation. According to Environment Canada (the Canadian
equivalent to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), development of the
tar sands presents "staggering challenges for forest conservation and
reclamation."
Very little of the area directly affected by mining operations has been
reclaimed, and after 40 years of mining, not a single operation has received
a reclamation certificate from the government of Alberta. Suncor Energy's
operation, the longest-operating tar sands mine, says it has reclaimed 858
hectares of land since starting operations in 1967, less than 9 percent of
the land its operations have disturbed to date. Syncrude Canada, the largest
daily producer of tar sands, says its operations have disturbed 18,653
hectares since 1978, with just 4,055 hectares of land reclaimed. None of
this reclaimed land has been certified as such. At best, reclamation of the
tar sands region will be a large-scale experiment that is unlikely to
restore a self-sustaining boreal forest ecosystem within the next century.
Waters. The Athabasca River winds nearly 1,500 kilometers from its source at
the Athabasca Glacier in Jasper National Park to Lake Athabasca in Wood
Buffalo National Park. It is Alberta's longest river and one of North
America's longest undammed rivers. It enters Lake Athabasca at the
Peace-Athabasca Delta, the largest boreal delta in the world, a World
Heritage Site, and one of the most important waterfowl nesting and staging
areas in North America.
It also passes directly through the boreal forest being cleared and
strip-mined, and serves as the primary source of water used to separate the
bitumen from the mined tar sands. Water withdrawals for tar sands surface
mining operations pose threats to both the sustainability of fish
populations in the Athabasca River and to the sustainability of the
Peace-Athabasca Delta, jeopardizing the subsistence and commercial fisheries
of local aboriginals.
Tar sands mining operations withdraw 2-4.5 barrels of fresh water from the
river for every barrel of oil they produce. Current operations are permitted
to withdraw more than 349 million cubic meters of water per year, a volume
equivalent to the amount required by a city of 2 million people. But unlike
city effluent waters, which are treated and released back into the river,
tar sands mining effluent becomes so contaminated that it must be impounded.
Historically it was believed that the Athabasca River had sufficient water
flows to meet the needs of tar sands operations. But it is becoming clearer
that this might not be the case, particularly during the winter months, when
river flows are naturally lower and growing demand for water withdrawals
could lead to long-term ecological impacts. The sustainability of fish
populations in the Athabasca River is threatened by continuous tar sands
water withdrawals during the winter months in years when low precipitation
rates in the Athabasca River basin lead to low flow conditions. Nonetheless,
the government has failed to implement regulations that would require tar
sands withdrawals to stop when the health of the river is at risk. In fact,
the government explicitly allows the tar sands industry to continue
withdrawing water no matter how low the river flows become.
For certain in situ drilling operations, significant amounts of water are
required to create steam to be injected underground. Because the steam
condenses into water and is pumped up with the bitumen, the water can be
recycled. However, because some water remains underground, a continuous
source of additional water (about half a barrel of water per barrel of
bitumen) is required.
These operations are located much farther from the river and, as a result,
rely mainly upon groundwater. Where shallower freshwater aquifers are used,
the continuous pumping of water can lower the water table in the region.
Because these groundwater aquifers are connected to lakes, rivers and
wetlands, reducing their levels can cause lakes to shrink and wetlands to
dry out. As a result, some operators have switched to deeper sources of
salty groundwater. But because they require fresh water, the salty water
must be treated, which produces large amounts of waste sludge that must be
disposed of.
Both tar sands mining and in situ operations produce large volumes of waste
as a result of their water use. For in situ operations, the primary waste
stream, a result of treating salt water and the water that is pumped up with
the bitumen, is disposed of in landfills or injected underground. Tar sands
mining operations present a much more significant risk, because they produce
large volumes of waste in the form of mine tailings (six barrels of tailings
per barrel of bitumen extracted). These tailings, a slurry of water, sand,
fine clay and residual bitumen, are stored in vast wastewater reservoirs.
The industry misleadingly refers to them as "tailings ponds," but
collectively these pools of waste cover more than 50 square kilometers and
are so extensive that they can be seen from space. One tailings pond at
Syncrude's mining operation is held in check by the third-largest dam in the
world. These tailings dumps pose an environmental threat resulting from the
migration of pollutants through the groundwater system and the risk of leaks
to the surrounding soil and surface water.
The high concentrations of pollutants such as naphthenic acids, which are
found at concentrations 100 times greater than in the natural environment,
are acutely toxic to aquatic life, yet the government has no water-quality
regulations for these substances. Migratory birds fare slightly better: To
prevent them from landing, propane cannon go off at random intervals and
scarecrows stand guard on floating barrels. How this tailings waste, and its
grave risks, might be dealt with in the long term remains unknown.
Air. Tar sands air pollution, both provincial and transboundary, is rapidly
increasing. Since 2003 Alberta has been the industrial air pollution capital
of Canada. Criteria Air Contaminants (CACs) are the most common air
pollutants released by heavy industry burning fossil fuels. CACs are defined
as "air pollutants that affect our health and contribute to air pollution
problems" and include such things as nitrogen oxides (NOX), sulfur dioxide
(SO2), volatile organic compounds and particulate matter, all of which are
emitted in large volumes by tar sands operations.
Modeling of the impacts of approved tar sands development, which includes
three operating mines and three operations at various stages of planning and
construction, shows that maximum predicted ambient air concentrations of NOX
and SO2 would exceed provincial, national and international guidelines.
Emissions of volatile organic compounds such as benzene are also on the rise
because of both emissions from burning fossil fuels (e.g., natural gas,
diesel, coke) and the growing number of tailings ponds. The costs of such
air pollution have not been considered.
The coming tar sands rush
Major global powers are positioning themselves to ensure access to oil from
tar sands. To date, four of the five largest publicly traded oil companies
in the world (Royal Dutch/Shell, ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, and TotalFina)
have invested or committed themselves to invest billions of dollars in tar
sands development. National oil companies have also staked their claim,
ranging from Norway's Statoil to China's Sinopec.
Tar sands speculation, investment and development has grown dramatically.
The oil industry's production target of 1 million barrels per day was
achieved in 2004, 16 years ahead of the ambitious schedule for growth it
laid out in 1995. That year the industry invested almost US$9 billion in
Alberta's tar sands. More than US$100 billion of investment has been
announced for development between 2006 and 2015.
The tar sands industry is now focused on quintupling production as quickly
as possible. It is projected that tar sands production will reach 3-4
million barrels per day by 2015 and could grow to 5 million barrels per day
by 2030, if not sooner. It is the prospect of this growth that has led
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to label Canada an "emerging energy
superpower."
The magnitude of the environmental risks and liabilities arising from
Canada's tar sands rush is unprecedented in the history of North American
energy production. Growing awareness about the global warming and
environmental consequences of relying upon growth in tar sands production
throws into sharp relief the perils of our addiction to oil in the 21st
century. All North Americans, including future generations, have a stake in
the outcome.
To address the impacts of tar sands production, a novel suite of government
policies and innovative technologies must be deployed that drastically
reduce the environmental impacts by achieving "carbon neutral" (no net
greenhouse gas pollution) production, ensuring that development doesn't
proceed any faster than reclamation of the boreal forest and reducing
dependence on scarce freshwater resources.
The most immediate opportunity to begin our rehabilitation lies in the more
efficient use of transportation fuels. To do so requires tackling another
sacred cow: the flagging North American auto industry, which is in trouble
partly because it is producing the wrong vehicles for the times. The abysmal
fuel-efficiency of North America's SUVs, trucks and cars has actually
declined since 1986.
The governments of the United States and Canada must collectively commit to
implementing regulations that will make North America a global leader in
fuel efficiency. By deploying more efficient technologies today, we can
begin to ease the demand for transportation fuels and slow the headlong rush
into extracting oil from the tar sands. This will afford policymakers and
the private sector the time needed to drive investment toward low-carbon and
no-carbon fuels, and to evolve our transportation systems and urban design
into a state that is compatible with a carbon-free future. North America
stands at a critical juncture in its transportation fuel future.
As conventional oil sources disappear, we face a stark choice: We can
develop new, even dirtier sources of transportation fuels derived from
fossil fuels like the tar sands, or we can set a course for a more
sustainable energy future by improving the efficiency of our oil consumption
while aggressively transitioning to clean and renewable transportation fuels
and sustainable transportation systems.
The environmental and global warming consequences of even 1 million barrels
per day of tar sands production must serve as a wake-up call, and we must
acknowledge that increased reliance upon this unconventional, high-impact
fossil fuel is not a viable path forward.
Dan Woynillowicz is a senior policy analyst with the Pembina Institute,
based in Calgary, Alberta.
