How do tar sands affect the environment?
Tar sands extraction emits up to three times more global warming pollution than does producing the same quantity of conventional crude. It also depletes and pollutes freshwater resources and creates giant ponds of toxic waste.
What are the major environmental issues with tar sand extraction?
Burning tar sands oil creates more pollution than regular crude. Because of its sludgy composition, mining and refining tar sands oil demands an enormous amount of energy. Tar sands generate 17 percent more carbon emissions than conventional oil.
What animals are affected by oil sands?
Wildlife in Peril: Nine Species in the Tar Sands War Zone
- Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou)
- Gray Wolf (Canis lupus)
- Black Bears (Ursus americanus)
- Canada Lynx (Lynx canadensis)
- Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis)
- Walleye (Sander vitreus)
- Moose (Alces alces)
- Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis)
How does tar sands affect animals?
Tar Sands Drilling Fragments Bird Habitat: Tar sands drilling projects are projected to result in the loss of more forest-dependent bird habitat than strip-mining and could harm as many as 14.5 million breeding birds from direct habitat loss and as many as 76 million birds from fragmentation and habitat degradation …
What are the disadvantages of using tar sands?
The Cons of Tar Sands
- Clear-cutting is often required to access deposits.
- Extracting bitumen from tar sands is carbon-intensive.
- Dependence on tar sands may just prolong the inevitable.
- The waste products from tar sands are highly toxic.
- Leaks from tar sands operations could harm people and animals in the region.
Why are tar sands bad?
In fact, oil from tar sands is one of the most destructive, carbon-intensive and toxic fuels on the planet. Producing it releases three times as much greenhouse gas pollution as conventional crude oil does. In fact, it has become one of the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions in that country.
Why are the tar sands bad?
How does natural gas affect wildlife?
Land use and wildlife The construction and land disturbance required for oil and gas drilling can alter land use and harm local ecosystems by causing erosion and fragmenting wildlife habitats and migration patterns.
How do oil sand companies prevent animals from being harmed?
Oil sands operations have site-specific wildlife mitigation and monitoring plans in place that require regulatory authorization and reporting of results. These plans typically include footprint reduction initiatives, wildlife deterrents, habitat enhancement, on lease reclamation, off lease restoration, and monitoring.
What are some advantages and disadvantages of tar sands?
- Very large supply. Second largest oil field in the world.
- Economically recoverable at today’s oil prices.
- Will help keep oil prices relatively low.
- Enormous growth potential.
- Big economic driver in Alberta.
- Stable source country (a rarity for oil)
- GHG emissions could potentially be minimized through CCS.
What are tar sands bad?
Tar sands oil — even the name sounds bad. And it is bad. In fact, oil from tar sands is one of the most destructive, carbon-intensive and toxic fuels on the planet. Producing it releases three times as much greenhouse gas pollution as conventional crude oil does.
How are the Tar Sands bad for the environment?
The impact of halting tar sands production will save countless acres of pristine boreal forest. The boreal forest is home to hundreds of indigenous First Nations communities and a vast number of plant and animal species (Denchak, 2015). The tar sands industry has dramatically disrupted Alberta’s pristine landscapes and natural ecosystems.
Where are the tar sands in the world?
Tar sands are heavy deposits of sand, clay, water and bitumen (extremely think crude oil). These sludgy oil deposits can be found in several locations around the world, including Venezuela, Russia, and the United States, but Alberta’s Athabasca deposit is the largest known reserve in the world (CAPP, 2017).
Why are tar sands the dirtiest form of fossil fuel?
Tar Sands Extraction Alberta’s Athabasca tar sands lie under about 142,000 square kilometers of land, much of which is locked deep underground, making it hard to extract (CAPP, 2017). Tar sands are known as one of the dirtiest forms of fossil fuel because of the vast economic and environmental costs that are associated with its extraction.
How much oil does Alberta tar sands produce?
From 2005 to 2015, tar sands oil production has increased from 1 million barrels per day to 2.4 million barrels per day (Riebeek, 2016). Today, Alberta’s tar sands are known to hold one of the largest reserves of crude oil in the world (CAPP, 2017).