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 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 high volumes of greenhouse gases during development, which contribute to global warming, as well as other pollutants. Tar Sands projects are the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions growth in Canada. By 2015, the Tar Sands are expected to emit more greenhouse gases than the nation of Denmark (pop. 5.4 million).
Producing synthetic crude requires natural gas to create heat and steam to separate the oil from the sand and upgrade it to crude. Tar Sands operations currently use about .6 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day. By 2012, that level could rise to 2 billion cubic feet a day – more than all the gas available from the Mackenzie Gas Project. At the NWT-Alberta border, the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline would connect to a TransCanada pipeline, which would carry the gas onward to feed oil extraction in Alberta’s Tar Sands. The Mackenzie Gas Pipeline will likely fuel accelerated Tar Sands development, not provide clean fuel to heat homes in Canada and the U.S.
 Renowned journalist Andrew Nikiforuk's book "Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent" explains how tar sands development is trashing the environment and putting the whole world at risk due to the high emission rates of tar sands oil. From carbon to caribou, this insightful book provides detailed insight into a variety of reasons why we should say "no" to oil from the tar sands.
See Andrew Nikiforuk on his Book Tour >
 This backgrounder, Danger in the Nursery: Impact on birds of tar sands oil
development in Canada’s Boreal forest by the Boreal Songbird Initiative, NRDC, and the Pembina Institute, explains how millions of birds will be lost due to tar sands development over the next 30-50 years. Tailings ponds contribute to these loses, but other factors such as habitat loss and water and air quality are often worse.
 This fact sheet, Canada's Tar Sands: America's #1 Source of Oil has Dangerous Consequences by the International Boreal Conservation Campaign, provides a good overview of some of the various consequences of tar sands oil: higher emissions than traditional oil, devastation of the Boreal Forest and bird and wildlife habitat, and degradation of water quality for downstream aboriginal communities.
 Learn more about the Alberta Tar Sands at www.stopdirtyfuels.org, where the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) highlights the role the U.S. plays as the world's top oil consumer. Also, check out this blog entry about the Tar Sands by Liz Barrat-Brown, Senior Attorney with NRDC.
 In January 2008, World Wildlife Fund Canada and Pembina Institute released "Under-Mining the Environment: The Oil Sands Report Card" – explaining the need for substantial improvement in the environmental performance of oil sands mining operations. The average score of all companies assessed in the report was 33% (out of 100).
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Downstream
A shocking documentary about the increased rates of cancer downstream from the tar sands
Watch video >
Lisa King Environmental Specialist, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations
A Town's Toxic Questions
CBC investigates health problems downriver from Alberta's Tar Sands
Watch video >
Crude Awakening
CBC investigates environmental fallout from Tar Sands
Watch video >
Fort Chipewyan Water Quality & Health Issues
Report examines effects of Tar Sands
Download PDF >
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