Paul Hanley, Special to The StarPhoenix
Published: Tuesday, August 08, 2006
"There should be an immediate moratorium on new oilsands developments in Alberta." This is the opinion, not only of environmentalists, but also of Peter Lougheed, the former premier of Alberta who was instrumental in starting Alberta's oilsands development back in the 1970s.
Basically, Lougheed sees development proceeding out of control, without a full debate on the implications by Albertans. He points out that oilsands development depletes a relatively clean energy source, natural gas, to produce relatively dirty synthetic oil. The natural gas would be better used in an Alberta-based petro-chemicals industry.
Lougheed further notes the royalties to Albertans from oilsands are minimal.
Alberta's oilsands are an environmental catastrophe in the making, with frightening implications for Alberta, Saskatchewan and the world. One concern for Saskatchewan is the acid rain produced in northeast Alberta, which is mainly deposited in this province due to prevailing winds. Although efforts are being made to reduce acid emissions, massive growth in the industry will eclipse these improvements.
The scope of potential developments in Alberta is breathtaking. The area of oilsands mines developed so far -- 300 square kilometres -- can already be seen from space, but this is just 10 per cent of the total area currently leased.
Toxic tailings ponds in the mining areas are already 50 sq. km in size.
Even more of a concern is the total area available for deep oilsands extraction, an area the size of Florida (138,000 sq. km). To give you a sense of the potential scope of the development, if all oilsands deposits are leased, the area would constitute about 21 per cent of the province. The area of deep oilsands already leased is 35,680 sq. km, an area the size of Vancouver Island.
Deep oilsands are not developed as open pit mines. They are drilled and the drilling requires a web of roads and clearings for oil wells that would essentially destroy the integrity of Alberta's boreal forest ecosystem. The amount of boreal forest cleared if all deep oilsands are developed would be 11,454 sq. km, but the remainder of the forest would be cut into small blocks by 441,600 km of roads, pipelines and power lines.
Oil production from the area is now about 1.1 million barrels a day and the region is expected to produce fi ve million or more barrels per day by 2030.
The increasing activity is having a wide range of environmental impact.
In addition to direct ecological damage, the extraction process uses enormous energy and water inputs and produces equally enormous amounts of greenhouse gases, acid rain and water pollution. It takes 3.6 tonnes of oilsands, enough natural gas to heat a home for four days, and two to four barrels of water to produce each barrel of oil.
The frantic pace of development is overheating Alberta's economy, causing material, labour and housing costs to skyrocket, with substantial spillover effect on Saskatchewan. It is amazing that Alberta gains very little to compensate for the negative impacts, with just one per cent royalties charged on oilsands production until development costs are paid off. In contrast to other oil-producing jurisdictions such as Alaska and Norway, very little of the revenue from this non-renewable resource is being set aside as a permanent trust for the future.
With even venerable Conservatives like Peter Lougheed questioning the wisdom of development, you might think the Alberta government would be thinking twice. They aren't; the addiction to oil and automobiles is too strong.
Lougheed's call for a slower, saner development pace and alternative, value-added development of fossil fuel resources will not be considered so long as the demand for transportation fuel remains so strong. The solution involves a wholesale change to our transportation system, including redesigning cities to reduce transportation needs, improving the effi ciency of the vehicle fl eet, supporting public transit, and the development of alternative and renewable fuels.
Without this change, look for the oil lust to drain every remaining source of oil in every possible location on the planet, without regard for the environmental and social consequences.
For more information on this topic visit www.oilsandswatch.org.
