Athabasca Tar Sands - Enviromental impacts of a major resource development scheme and its associted distribution network

Question 1

Athabasca tar sand development in Alberta Canada

Answer 1

As conventional sources of crude oil are depleted, less conventional sources such as bitumen found in tar sands can ofset declinin prodcution.

The sands estimate to contain around 175 million barrels of recoverable reserves of crude bitumen.

5,000 km2 is currently being mined

Question 2

Impact on climate change of the Athabasca tar sand development GLOBAL SCALE

Answer 2

• Very carbon intensive, mining and upgrading procedure requires three times the CO2 than conventional oil production.
• Largest contributer to NA climate change.
• GLOBAL SCALE
• Athanbasca basin, rapid melting and glacier retreat.
• Emits around 70 megatonnes a year of carbon.

Question 3

Loss of forest and wildlife habitat - Athabasca tar sand development

Answer 3

• The cause of the second fastest rate of deforestaion in the world behind the amazon rainforest.
• Canadas Boreal forest represents 25% of the world intact forests and is a complex ecosystem of wetlands and lakes.
• It provides 1.3 billion acreas of wild habitat for a vast aray of species.
• Planned development expects to see at least 5,000km2 of forest cleared.

Question 4

Air quality and Athabasca tar sand development

Answer 4

• Air pollution from the tar sands is increasing on both a local and regional scale.
• This includes lead, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide.

Question 5

Water abstraction and pollution - Athabasca tar sand development

Answer 5

• Approved projects will see 3 million barrels of tar sand produced ailyy by 2018.
• As much as 5 barrels of water are used for every barrel.
• The amount of water is equal to the amount used by a city of 2 million people per year.
• The river may not have sufficient flows to reach demands, winter flows becoming a issue.
• Water abstraction poses a threat for the sustainability of the fish population.
• Tar sand mining operation produce waste in the form of tailings, around 6 barrels of this per 1 barrel of bitumen. Poses a threat to aquatic organisms and animals.

Question 6

Enviromental impacts of the Keystone XL pipeline

Answer 6

• The remianing 137,000km2 of boreal forest will be fragmented by this scheme and other roads and transport networks.
• The pipeline was deisgned to transport Canadian sar sands oil from Alberta to various areas across the USA and is expected to transport around 830,000 barrels per day to refineries on the gulf of texas.
• Tar sand oil is thicker, more acidic and more corrosive than lighter conventional crude oil, this means there is greater likelihood of leaks.
• One study found that between 2007 and 2010, pipelines moving tar sands oil in Midwestern states spilled three times more per mile than the U.S. national average for pipelines carrying conventional crude.
• Since it first went into operation in 2010, TC Energy’s original Keystone Pipeline System has leaked more than a dozen times; one incident in North Dakota sent a 60-foot, 21,000-gallon geyser of tar sands oil spewing into the air.