| |
 The term “tar sands” refers to thick oil called bitumen that is mixed in with sand, clay, and water. Intensive energy is required to process the sands into crude oil. Tar sands oil is the world’s most harmful type of oil for the atmosphere, emitting higher volumes of greenhouse gasses than other sources of conventional oil due to the difficulty of extraction. This contributes to global warming and the release of other pollutants. Tar sands projects are the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions growth in Canada, with oil and gas accounting for nearly 40 percent of Canada’s growth in greenhouse gas emissions between 1990 and 2010. By 2020, emissions from the tar sands are expected to nearly triple levels from 2008.
Producing synthetic crude requires natural gas to create heat and steam to separate the oil from the sand and upgrade it to crude. In 2011, tar sands operations used about 1.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day. By 2020, that level could rise to 3 billion cubic feet a day – more than all the gas available from the Mackenzie Gas Project. The Mackenzie Gas Pipeline would likely fuel accelerated tar sands development.
Tar sands also pose an enormous threat for migratory birds that either breed in or pass through the tar sands region along their migratory routes. In 2008, around 1,500 ducks landed in a toxic tailings pond and subsequently died. But this is only the tip of the iceberg, according to experts. Our report, Danger in the Nursery, found that millions of birds are likely to be lost as a result of habitat loss and fragmentation,
contamination of air and water, and contributions to global warming. |
|
 |
|
|
|