Comment 97203

By JustinJones (registered) - website | Posted January 25, 2014 at 22:23:19 in reply to Comment 97201

There is no "other 90%", as you refer to. I'm assuming that you're referring to the less invasive technologies like SAGD and High Pressure Cyclic Steam Stimulation technologies, which don't require open-pit mining. Those currently account for about 35% of production in the tar sands, a far cry from your 90% claim. The vast majority of the oil produced in the tar sands region is still produced the old-fashioned way: Clear cut it, strip the overburden, dig it up, process it, deal with the byproducts at some unspecified time in the future.

And while those technologies might not create devastation on the scale that open pit mining does, they still require massive quantities of water to be pumped underground, removing it from the water cycle, and also require significant input of energy from natural gas to actually heat the water to steam before injecting it into the ground to loosen the bitumen.

So you see, I HAVE done my research. I DO know a lot about the technologies (well, as much as a non-engineer layperson can be expected to) and, more importantly, I HAVE been there. I've been on site at Syncrude's Mildred Lake facility, Suncor's Millenium and Firebag locations, the Joslyn Sands, CNRL's Horizon project and Shell's Jackpine mine, which I'm willing to bet is at least 5 more sites than you've been on, and I can tell you without a doubt that the tar sands operations in each of those locations is filthy, destructive and on a scale that is difficult to imagine.

You say people should do some research, and I'd like to know what, specifically, you would have us read. I'd also like to know where you get the "90%" figure you site from. I sincerely doubt it is backed up by any evidence. Lastly, if you care about the environment as much as anyone else as you claim, I'd like to know how you justify your support for the tar sands. I'd like to know if you have been there, and if you have what your impressions were, and if they conflict dramatically with the first-hand account I've offered here.

I would agree with you that not many people understand what is going on north of Fort McMurray, but where I disagree with you is what side the ignorance errs on. If anything, the media has been guilty of trumpeting the economic benefits of the tar sands, calling it Canada's "economic engine" time and again, while ignoring the economic damages that it is doing to other, equally important and less destructive sectors of our economy. I would argue that most Canadians don't have a full picture of just how bad it is up there, of just how significant the devastation is, and of just how much we are jeopardizing our own environment for short-term economic gain, and I feel confident that if more Canadians had the experiences I have had, of actually going up there and seeing the sites, that there is no way the Canadian public would allow those operations to continue in their current form.

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