It is now evident that as the world has extracted most of the less polluting oil, attentions are now being turned on the kind of oil that leaves the environment with a lot of dirty sludge- oil sands. Oils sands are partially consolidated sandstones or loose sands that contain naturally occurring mixture of clay, sand and water, saturated with extremely viscous and dense form of petroleum that is technically referred to as bitumen. Colloquially, it is also known as tar, due to the similar appearance in color and odor. The Canadian crude oil sands or bitumen is very thick and sticky, so heavy and viscous which requires that it is heated or diluted with some lighter hydrocarbons such as natural-gas condensate and light crude oil to be recovered at commercial rates like it is the case with the convention kinds of oil. The oil sands were classified as some of the world’s oil reserves when prices of conventional oil were seen skyrocketing. Debates have emerged on whether their extraction should go on not, because there is a widespread awareness that they are more harmful to the environment than the conventional petroleum is. Most notably, as environmentalist forge ahead with their renunciation, some sources say that companies and politicians are using the current economic weaknesses to chase profits from the oil sands reserves without caring about their environmental consequences (Loyie par. 2-6).
Despite fears from environmentalists that Canada will have to sacrifice the oil mining zones and beyond, proponents of the Canadian oil sand development assert that the project should go on as the country needs tar and the world needs energy. Key stakeholders such as Canadian politicians, oil firms and a section of economists are reasoning purely on short-term economic grounds that the mining will furnish fiscal requirements of the government. However, the likelihood that the oil sands revenues will furnish the government’s fiscal requirements and improve the economic statuses of Canadian people is also debatable. This debate emanates from the fact that although the country had projected to supply most of its oil to the United States, the latter is also now engaged in mining similar class of oil. In fact its oil industry is now booming, and oils from other countries are now being referred to as “dirty oils”. The environmentalists posit that allowing such a project to go on will be like smoking cigarette to get infected with cancer that one knows. When the mining process begun, there have been many oil spills causing both land and air pollution. As the mining process usually involves heating the bitumen with other hydrocarbon, analysts have noted that it can result in an increase of 12% greenhouse emissions, when compared to mining conventional oil. The zone in which the oil sands will be mined will have to sacrifice a lot of flora and fauna, as the land usage, soil conditions and climate are likely to change. In this regard, indigenous species may not be enabled to thrive if considerations for negative-impact minimizing strategies are not put in place. Water quality will also change, as when mined materials such as iron sulfide mineral, waste rocks, and oil flow in the water, it will be hard to be drunk and sustain aquatic animals. Air quality could be compromised due to dust particles, noise and vibrations amongst others (Archer par. 6; Saviour 125-136).
In the Athabasca Chipewyan region, Allan Adam, the Dene Chief has recounted the history of how the land that meant everything to the life of his people changed when largest corporations descended in the region to look for oil. Instead of the oil sand mining bringing happiness to the people of Alberta, it has generally had negative net economic impacts. The first major impact has been ecological disturbance. There have been effects like deforestation, species loss due to exploration, population fragmentation, huge open pits and widespread clearing of land due to emerging urbanization. The chief also reiterates that the mining process has caused a lot of green house effect and negative social living in the area. Everybody can experience unclean air and heat in the environment, and the prices of houses have escalated due to the number of people migrating to the area to look for employment (Loyie par. 2-6).
As already mentioned, the US has been the major importer of the Canadian oil and the country has been supplying there a lot of oil. However, the entry of Chinese corporations into the ownership of the oil sand has made US to balk. This balking arises due to the fact that American buyers can choose the type of oil they want at this time when the US has its oil supply running ahead of internal demand. They now call the Canadian oil as “dirty”. On the other scene although the two countries are building the Keystone XL pipeline to transport the oil to the US, there are emerging oppositions to challenge its construction. Opponents such as Chief Adam of Dene cite ecological and human reasons for the two governments to consider and stop it (Loyie par. 2-6).
Just to illustrate some cases of pollution due to the oil mining project, Athabasca River has been noted to carry toxins into the Athabasca Lake. The Ecojustice research has noted that the pollutants from the mining fields end up in Athabasca River, which contaminates its water killing many fish species there and beyond into the Athabasca Lake (n.p.). Obviously, this is contrary to the government’s assertions that the tar sand mining leaves the Athabasca Lake unaffected. Epidemiological health data have suggested that the Alberta tar sand toxins are responsible for the current increasing rates of cancer and brain tumor. Since a huge amount of energy is needed to heat the extracts from the earth and then transform them into liquid crude oil, the burning releases airborne pollutants that are believed to be the cause of recent cancer prevalence. Recently, studies on cancer and tumor related diseases have discovered 51 rare types of cancers in 47 individuals in the mining area (Facts About 1-2).
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The Community of Fort Chipewyan has been greatly affected by the mining in that as the water has been contaminated, traditional foods such as fish have become bend-over, deformed, partially eaten by acids and therefore inedible. In this regard, food sources such as fish and caribou have become inedible or extinct. Doctor O’conor, a well known family physician in the Fort Chipewyan, was one of the first people to start raising concerns about rate of cancer in the region (Loyie par. 2-6). When he lodged concerns to his fellow physician in Health Canada, they in turn laid four complain against him resulting in his license being suspended. According to the local residents, it was a disbelief in the government to see a person who was trying to defend their well being vindicated, rather than the organization coming down to the community to do a baseline research on predicaments the natives were facing (Facts About 1-2).
During a conference In Edmonton, although the University of Alberta Research Ecologist Dr Schindler showed the public examples of fish which had been deformed, and went ahead to publish his findings that were based on the evidence, they were disapproved as not being accurate (Archer par. 1-5). The Fort Chipewan anglers are now confirming that cases of deformed fish are now becoming very common. Dr. Schindler has been` instrumental in addressing this issue. He has shown to the public fish that had tumors, deformities and other signs of diseases in Lake Athabasca that are predicted to have been caused by oil sand pollution. Schindler notes that while fish embryos have a very high mortality, the fishes themselves have a lot of deformities (Archer par. 1-5). In his publications, the ecologist has written largely depicting how the oil sand pollution is causing the deformities and extinction to fish (Archer par. 1-5).
According to the National Geographic Magazine, the narrator recalls how the area that is now harboring the mining activities looked like before they started. The land there was covered with forests that provided source of food because men at that time lived by hunting and gathering. The other sources of food like rivers and lakes are becoming polluted every day. Lakes such as Lake Mildred have been polluted resulting in huge ecological disasters such as mass deaths of ducks that has shocked environmentalists (National Geographic 1-8). Although the Canadian Laws provides one’s rights of ownership of private properties that is not now the case. It has been evident that the mining activities have been affecting private land usage of other people elsewhere. The current pollution caused by tar sand mining is making other people’s land unproductive (Best n. pag).
Works Cited
Archer, John. Oil Sands Poisoning Fish, Say Scientists, Fishermen. CBC News, 2014. Web.
2014, <http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/oilsands-poisoning-fish-say-scientists-fishermen-1.939507>
Best, Jordan. Alberta’s Oil Sands: Key Issues and Impacts.Mapleleafweb, 2013. Web. 2014,
<http://mapleleafweb.com/features/alberta-s-oil-sands-key-issues-and-impacts>
Eco justice. Oil Sands Pollution and the Athabasca River, 2013. Web. 2014,
http://www.ecojustice.ca/publications/oilsands-pollution-and-the-athabasca-river#.UpcEoydCmho
Facts About. Aboriginal Involvement in the Oil Sands, 2013. Print.
Loyie, Florence. Doctor Who Suggested Oil sands-Cancer Link Cleared of Misconduct
Charge. National Post. FAIR, 2009. Web. 2014, <http://fairwhistleblower.ca/content/doctor-who-suggested-oilsands-cancer-link-cleared-misconduct-charge>
National Geographic. (2013). The Canadian Oil Boom. Print.
Saviour, Naveen M. Environmental Impact of Soil and Sand Mining: A
Review. International Journal of Science, Environment and Technology,2012:1(3), pp.125-134.
