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"THE LONG DARK SHADOW OF THE TAR SANDS"
by Silver Donald Cameron
Sunday Herald column - March 15, 2009
The Alberta tar sands, says Andrew Nikiforuk, represent "a nation-changing event" which has made the rest of Canada into "a suburb of Fort McMurray." A distinguished Calgary-based journalist, Nikiforuk was in Nova Scotia in early March to discuss his new book, Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent (Greystone, $20).
The tar sands, boasts Prime Minister Stephen Harper, have made Canada "an emerging energy superpower." Because of them, Canada now produces more oil than Kuwait, derives 9% of its GDP from oil exports, and has overtaken Mexico and Saudi Arabia to become the number one foreign supplier of oil to the United States.
Out of sight in the northern wilderness, the tar sands projects are tearing up a chunk of Alberta's boreal forest roughly the size of Florida -- but, says Nikiforuk, the sands have their black, gooey handprints on every part of the country, whether we recognize it or not.
Our dollar, for instance, is now a petro-currency, driven by the fluctuating value of oil. When oil hit $147 a barrel, our dollar was worth more than the US greenback. When oil fell to $40, our dollar sank in tandem. That volatility hammers all our other industries, from coast to coast. How can you cultivate world markets for lumber, airplanes, software or newsprint when your dollar may, in a few weeks, gain or lose 40%?
The expansion of the tar sands is also driving the "deep integration" between Canada and the US envisaged by the iniquitous Security and Prosperity Partnership. International corporations own the tar sands projects, and their pipelines run south to Texas and Oklahoma -- but not east to Quebec and the Maritimes. Atlantic Canada remains dependent on European and Middle Eastern oil, and on jobs in Alberta. The oil and the profits get exported. The mess stays in Canada And it's a colossal mess. The tar sands represent the world's largest energy project, largest capital project and largest construction project. They also represent, says University of Alberta water ecologist Dr. David Schindler, "the Guinness World Record for environmental disaster."
Bitumen is gouged out of the earth in strip-mines the size of cities, totally destroying forests and wetlands that once absorbed vast quantities of carbon. Then the tar is separated from the sand using immense amounts of steam and hot water. Extraction thus creates three barrels of liquid waste for every barrel of bitumen - 400 million gallons every day, enough to fill 720 Olympic swimming pools.
This gunk contains salt, phenols, benzene, cyanide, arsenic and the like. Because it can't be dumped into the Athabasca River, it's stored in "ponds" on the riverbanks behind earth walls 80 meters high. Nikiforuk calls them "raised toxic lakes." They cover 60 square kilometers. Some are 20 km in length. They're so big they're visible from space.
The Alberta tar sands, says Andrew Nikiforuk, represent "a nation-changing event" which has made the rest of Canada into "a suburb of Fort McMurray." A distinguished Calgary-based journalist, Nikiforuk was in Nova Scotia in early March to discuss his new book, Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent (Greystone, $20).
The tar sands, boasts Prime Minister Stephen Harper, have made Canada "an emerging energy superpower." Because of them, Canada now produces more oil than Kuwait, derives 9% of its GDP from oil exports, and has overtaken Mexico and Saudi Arabia to become the number one foreign supplier of oil to the United States.
Out of sight in the northern wilderness, the tar sands projects are tearing up a chunk of Alberta's boreal forest roughly the size of Florida -- but, says Nikiforuk, the sands have their black, gooey handprints on every part of the country, whether we recognize it or not.
Our dollar, for instance, is now a petro-currency, driven by the fluctuating value of oil. When oil hit $147 a barrel, our dollar was worth more than the US greenback. When oil fell to $40, our dollar sank in tandem. That volatility hammers all our other industries, from coast to coast. How can you cultivate world markets for lumber, airplanes, software or newsprint when your dollar may, in a few weeks, gain or lose 40%?
The expansion of the tar sands is also driving the "deep integration" between Canada and the US envisaged by the iniquitous Security and Prosperity Partnership. International corporations own the tar sands projects, and their pipelines run south to Texas and Oklahoma -- but not east to Quebec and the Maritimes. Atlantic Canada remains dependent on European and Middle Eastern oil, and on jobs in Alberta. The oil and the profits get exported. The mess stays in Canada And it's a colossal mess. The tar sands represent the world's largest energy project, largest capital project and largest construction project. They also represent, says University of Alberta water ecologist Dr. David Schindler, "the Guinness World Record for environmental disaster."
Bitumen is gouged out of the earth in strip-mines the size of cities, totally destroying forests and wetlands that once absorbed vast quantities of carbon. Then the tar is separated from the sand using immense amounts of steam and hot water. Extraction thus creates three barrels of liquid waste for every barrel of bitumen - 400 million gallons every day, enough to fill 720 Olympic swimming pools.
This gunk contains salt, phenols, benzene, cyanide, arsenic and the like. Because it can't be dumped into the Athabasca River, it's stored in "ponds" on the riverbanks behind earth walls 80 meters high. Nikiforuk calls them "raised toxic lakes." They cover 60 square kilometers. Some are 20 km in length. They're so big they're visible from space.
http://www.mytown.ca/ev.php?URL_ID=125637&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201&reload=1237172673
Stumble It!
Just wait until something similar to the ash spills in Virginia happens. The only trouble is, the ash spills happened where PEOPLE live, and not some "dumb indians". When (not if) a spill happens at the tailing ponds, it will hardly see the light of day in this country, and Calgary will continue partying on the bones of ther dead............
http://www.nationalreviewofmedicine.com ... cs1_6.html