CASE STUDY - Athabasca Tar Sands - Alberta, CANADA. Flashcards
Where are the Tar Sands located?
Boreal Forest
Second largest biome on the planet (second to the oceans)
Give 2 facts on the Boreal forest
Only 12% is protected!
Largest area of wetlands found in boreal region.
What is the physical geography’s impact on the cost and availability of the oil in the Tar Sands development?
material : barrel ratio.
About 4 tonnes of material needs to be extracted for each barrel of bitumen.
How big are the tailings ponds for the Tar Sands.
Usually cover an area around 100km2
What have the tar sands been dubbed?
The ‘scar sands’.
Name 3 socio-economic impacts of the tar sands
$19 dollars a barrel compared to usual $10 a barrel.
Cancer cases in aboriginal people have increased by 10%
More than 1 million barrels of crude oil are released from Alberta’s oil sands plants every day.
Deforestation poses a threat to indigenous cultures.
What is the size of the current tar sands operation?
Size of New York, plans for 2030 to grow to size of Florida.
What are the difference between open pit and in situ mining?
Open pit is conventional. It involves digging bitumen out of a pit.
In situ methods leave a smaller footprint.
How much water is required to extract 1 barrel of oil?
5 barrels of water needed for 1 barrel of oil.
What did the UNEP identify ALberta’s tar sands as?
One of the 100 global ‘hotspots’ of environmental degradation.
Give a fact showing the extensiveness of the oil reserves in Alberta Athabasca?
Largest oil reserves outside Saudi Arabia
Long term economic and energy security.
How many recoverable barrels of bitumen are situated in the tar sands?
175 billion recoverable bitumen barrels.
Note the impacts of more physical geography impacting cost and availability.
80% of established reserves are too deep for mining; Uses IN SITU methods.
What positive contributions for the Tar Sands make?
Employment
Investment (e.g UK, East Korea etc…)
Energy security.
What environmental negatives are there?
Releases 3X more CO2 than conventional oil production.
1 barrel of oil needs 5 barrels of water for extraction, separation and upgrading
