Canada’s Highway to Hell

Canada’s Highway to Hell
The world’s last (and dirtiest) oil boom is under way in the boreal forests of Alberta. It’s destroying a wilderness the size of Florida.
OnEarth Magazine
Fall 2007
To capture just one barrel of oil from this geologic pudding requires brute force. Great machines mow down trees (and all their supporting creatures such as boreal songbirds and woodland caribou), roll up acres of muskeg, drain entire wetlands, and reroute rivers. Next, for each barrel, workers must scoop up two tons of sand and wash the stuff in hot water. Even then the bitumen requires substantial upgrading to remove engine-clogging impurities. It costs more than 10 times as much to produce a flowing barrel of oil in this way than it does to produce a barrel of Saudi light oil. The entire process is fueled by natural gas, and the energy consumed is awesome: Every 24 hours the industry burns enough natural gas to heat four million American homes in order to produce one million barrels of oil.

Also: Check out The Dominion’s special issue on the tar sands here: http://www.dominionpaper.ca/issue/48