oil sands the case for caution

7/26/2019 Oil Sands the Case for Caution

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Saskatchewans portion of the Clearwater River and its adjacent lands are included in a 200,000 hectare wilderness

park immediately to the south of the current oil sands disposition area.


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06!!!6

"he Clearwater River #alley and the near$y oil sands area have many valua$le archaeolo%ical sites.

&n sections of the Clearwater River are ancient rock paintin%s that attest to this re%ion $ein% inha$ited for thousands

of years.


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'olitical Conte(t) "he $i% stakeholders in Canadas oil sands industry are privately owned national and international oil

companies with a hu%e income and asset $ase.

"hey include companies such as Suncor, Syncrude, *mperial &il and Shell. Re%ulatin% such companies re+uires

political will, %ood federalprovincial cooperation and e(cellent enforcement.


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Clearly, the -overnment of Canada cannot $e counted on to $e a firm re%ulator.

nfortunately, the -overnment of Saskatchewan shows no si%n of readyin% itself to $e an effective re%ulator either.

/oth the previous 1' %overnment and the current Saskatchewan 'arty %overnment %ranted e(ploration privile%es

on lease land without an environmental impact assessment and prior to preparin% a re%ional land use plan.


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*n situ e(traction re+uires si%nificant a$ove %round facilities. "his is the &'"*e(en site in on% ake, 3l$erta. *t

includes a 44 hectare central facility, 25 e(ploration wells, 277 production wells and power lines to each well pad.


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Saskatchewans portion of the Clearwater River and its adjacent lands are included in a 200,000 hectare wilderness

park immediately to the south of the current oil sands disposition area.


7/16

*n situ e(traction re+uires si%nificant a$ove %round facilities. "his is the &'"*e(en site in on% ake, 3l$erta. *t

includes a 44 hectare central facility, 25 e(ploration wells, 277 production wells and power lines to each well pad.


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8ven some distance away from the central facility, fra%mentation of the $oreal forest is su$stantial. "he &'"*e(en

land parcel is !0,600 hectares, $ut 709 of the land will $e less than 2:0 metres away from industrial infrastructure

related to oil sands. *nevita$ly, this has ne%ative impacts on local wildlife populations. ;ra%mented physical ha$itat

results in the natural ran%e of species $ein% diminished and split up.


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3s the num$er of oil sands plants in northeast 3l$erta %row, there is a marked reduction in many species that rely on

the $oreal forest for ha$itat.

/ack%round ote

"he $ird in the slide is the yellow$ellied sapsucker.


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*n situ plants also re+uire very e(tensive a$ove%round pipeline collection systems. "he pipeline collection system

involves $oth a steam supply line and a line for produced $itumen.


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06!! !6

*f oil sands proceeds in northwest Saskatchewan the ha$itat of threatened species such as the common ni%hthawk will

$e eroded.

/ack%round ote)

"he common ni%ht hawk is not a hawk. *t is a mem$er of the %oatsucker family.


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&il sands operations are a si%nificant source of air pollution. "he lar%est source of air$orne pollution is the up%rader.

8(amples of air$orne contaminants include nitrous o(ides and volatile or%anic compounds. =any volatile or%anic

compounds are to(ic and they all com$ine with nitrous o(ides in the presence of sunli%ht to form %round level o>one.

&ne of the volatile or%anic compounds produced $y the oil sands is $en>ene, a carcino%en and a to(ic su$stance to

which there is no safe level of e(posure.

&il sands operations also emit lar%e +uantities of particulate matter which can $e carried deep into the lun%s and

contri$ute to health pro$lems such as $ronchitis and asthma.

;rom an environmental point of view, two of the most important pollutants released $y the oil sands are acid producin%

sulphur dio(ide and nitrous o(ides. 3l$ertas oil sands %enerate more than !:0,000 tonnes per year of nitrous o(ide

and sulphur dio(ide emissions. "hese are emitted in much hi%her +uantities than the conventional oil industry. *n the

ne(t set of slides we shall turn to a more detailed e(amination of their impacts.

References) ?!@ Simon 1yer, Aeremy =oorhouse, Batie aufen$er% and Ro$ 'owell. nderminin% "he 8nvironment)

"he &il Sands Report Card ?Canada) 'em$ina *nstitute, 2007@, pa%es 2 and 50. ?2@ Christopher Datch and =att'rice. Canadas "o(ic "ar Sands) "he =ost 1estructive 'roject &n 8arth ?"oronto) 8nvironmental 1efence, 2007@, p.

!!. "hese are references for the total annual release of nitrous o(ide and sulphur dio(ide emissions.


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Central facilities often include an up%rader, which converts $itumen into synthetic crude oil with the use of pressure

and steam. "he crude oil is then sent to a refinery for further processin%. "he up%rader is an ener%y intensive

operation and can thus have si%nificant pollution impacts.


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=ultiple oil sands projects could make Saskatchewans %reenhouse %as emissions even worse. "his is $ecause if a

$arrel of oil is produced from in situ oil sands, the %reenhouse %as emissions are at least three times hi%her than if that

same $arrel of oil is produced usin% conventional methods.

Reference) /. =et>, &.R. 1avidson, '.R. /osch, R. 1ave, .3. =eyer ?editors@ *nter%overnmental 'anel on Climate

Chan%e. Climate Chan%e 200) =iti%ation. Contri$ution of


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&nce in the atmosphere, sulphur dio(ide and nitro%en o(ides $ecome mi(ed and can travel lon% distances. *n the case

of 3l$erta and Saskatchewan, the prevailin% westerly winds carry 6:09 of the emissions from the ;ort =c=urray and

Cold ake area into Saskatchewan. 1urin% their transport, sulphur dio(ide and nitrous o(ide are involved in chemical

reactions with hydro%en chloride, o(y%en and water vapour. "hese reactions produce dilute solutions of nitric acid and

sulphuric acid, which ultimately fall as rain or snow on Saskatchewan soils and water $odies. *t can take $etween 2

and ! days $efore acid deposition on land or water occurs. 3s a result, acid deposition can take place as much as

!,000 kilometres away from the ori%inal pollution source.

oil sands the case for caution

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