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<strong>Written By:</strong> BC Mary
<strong>Date:</strong> 2006-02-05 13:27:00 <a href="/article/11270698-nigeria-of-the-north-oil-sands-frenzy-threatens-alberta-environment">Article Link</a> A report by conservation biologist Brian Horejsi of Western Wildlife Environments Consulting covers the magnitude of habitat fragmentation currently in Alberta from oil and gas development: more than 225,000 wells have been drilled; one-million miles of seismic road access and more than 300,000 miles of pipeline right-of-way have been cut; and 450,000 miles of all-weather road access have been built. None of this construction is or was subject to environmental assessment. Reserves at or near the surface are recovered through large-scale strip-mining. Huge mounds of oil sand are excavated and moved by trucks weighing 240 tons and standing three stories high. Two tons of sand produce one barrel of oil. Environmentalists are, not surprisingly, aghast at the magnitude of this fast growing and earth-despoiling industry. “Tar sands oil is to conventional oil what crack cocaine is to ordinary cocaine powder,” says Elizabeth May, executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada. “It’s more harm to global climate through increased greenhouse gas emissions, more destruction of boreal forests, more toxic tailings and more air and water pollution.” <a href="http://www.emagazine.com/view/?3007">http://www.emagazine.com/view/?3007</a> [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on February 7, 2006] |
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