Tar Sands free essay sample

Tar Sands The majority of oil used by the United States as well as internationally soon may come from the tar sands in Alberta, Canada. Extracting oil from tar sands is an extremely costly and immensely dirty way of obtaining fuel. There is currently a plan to build a pipeline, the Keystone XL, which will run from the supply of tar sands in Albert down the western United States to refineries in Texas. There are two major concerns when dealing with the creation of this pipeline and the increased use of tar sands. There is the unavoidable fear that this pipe with leak partnered with the fact hat refining tar sands causes far more greenhouse emissions than traditional oil extracting methods. Arguments for this toxic highway include the creations of American Jobs and a strong need to free our country from our dependence on foreign oil. However recent studies have shown that if the Keystone XL is built, it could actually have the opposite effect on our economy. We will write a custom essay sample on Tar Sands or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Eventually this project will leading to Job loss and end up feeding the global market of dirty oil, all while causing repugnant negative externalities on the bodies of American citizens and doing irreversible damage to the earth. The once the picturesque boreal forests of Canadas Alberta province now has a vastly different landscape. Today this area is filled with filthy strip mines and tailing ponds so large they are visible from space. For here lies the worlds largest reserve of tar sands, a mixture of clay, sand, water and bitumen. Heavvy black viscous oil, bitumen can be harvested and refined to yield a high amount of fossil fuel. However, mining and refining tar sand into usable oil is an extremely costly and complex process as compared to traditional oil excavating techniques. The tar sands, commonly referred to as oil sands, must first be extracted from the land. Unlike liquid oil, tar sands cannot simply be pumped from the ground through a well. Either strip mining or open pit mining is required for extraction. This type of surface mining uses large hydraulic and electrically powered shovels to dig up and transport the tar. If the tar is down deep enough, underground heating by compressed air and steam injections are applied. This process uses even more water and energy for excavation. After extraction, the separation process begins. The oil rich bitumen must first be separated from the clay, sand and water to be used. When the bitumen is separated it is still too viscous to even be refined. Next a process referred to as upgrading occurs. The thick bitumen requires dilution with lighter hydrocarbons to make it transportable by pipelines. Finally the oil is stable enough to be conveyed to refineries. Processing the tar uses enough natural gas in one day to heat three million homes. These extraction and separation methods also require vast amounts of water. For every gallon of oil produced, 35 gallons of water are required. Water is drawn mostly from the Athabasca River. The Athabasca is a major fresh water source for the people as well as the fauna of Alberta. All the water used for tar ands extraction draws down the surface water flow, adversely impacting stream habitats for fish and its other dependents. Approximately 90 percent of the fresh water used in the oil sands ends up in enormous man-made tailing ponds. These ponds remain stagnant witn no plan ot being removed or cleaned . A vast waste land of carcinogenic chemicals replaces a pristine forest. Many migrant birds stop in these ponds mistaking them for fresh water. The substances in the ponds are so thick and heavy that the birds drown and have little hope of being rescued. Reports of animals as large as a moose have also been consumed by the ponds. Toxic propane canons are commonly fired to keep ducks from landing in the tailings. Poisonous tailing ponds are considered to be one of the largest man-made structures ever, coming in at around 50 square kilometers. As if these monstrosities were not deemed horrific enough by murdering wildlife and turning a good portion of Canada into wasteland, it is well known that each and every pond is leaking. Deadly chemicals are being leeched into the rich earth and fresh water supply. Albertas boreal forests are one of the largest remaining intact ecosystems in the world. The orest is home to numerous endangered species and is larger in size than that of the Brazilian rainforest. The tar sand endeavor has already taken a chunk the size of Florida out of this forest. Eastern Alberta is starting to see a decline in wildlife due to habitation loss. For example, woodland caribou herds have declined 50 percent in the past decade. Creatures that used to roam free have now been restricted to an ever shrinking habitat. Canada has one of the largest remaining deposits of oil in the world. In the next decade Canada plans on doubling current tar sand production to 1. 8 million barrels of oil a day. In order to make a single barrel of oil, a staggering two tons of raw tar sands are needed. To collect all of the need raw tar, 740,000 more acres of the boreal forest will need to be cleared. The boreal forest is a natural carbon reservoir. Not only is Canada planning to emit more carbon into the air, they are removing one of natures main forces in combating the carbon caused by humans. Tar sands are easily Canadas single largest emitter of greenhouse gasses every year. Burning tar sands are not equal to burning traditional oil. The greenhouse gas emissions from tar sands are over three times that of non-synthetic il. This is why oil sands are referred to as the dirtiest type of fuel known to mankind. The Canadian Ministry has stated that emissions from the gas sector as a whole will rise by nearly one-third from 2005 to 2020, even as other sections of the country are reducing emissions immensely. At the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Canada agreed to a 17 percent emissions reduction from 2005 to 2020. If Canada falls short on their pledge, it would be only commonsensical to blame the expansion of tar sand production. In the last 12 years, Canada has invested over $120 billion in tar sand technologies. Their big business attempts prove how gung-ho the government is about making Canada the leaders of dirty fuel. So far the tar sand industry has been recognized as the biggest industrial development project of all time, the biggest capital investment project of all time and sadly the largest energy project of all time. As prices for oil from overseas continues to sky rocket, Canadas vast reserve becomes more and more economical to exploit. The effects of these tar sands might be showing up in our backyards, sooner rather than later. There is currently a proposal for a pipeline to be built from the tar sands region in Alberta, all he way down the United States, to Texas. The pipeline would measure of 1,700 miles long. Affectionately named Keystone XL, this plan for a highway of toxins is created by the energy infrastructure giants at TransCanada. If successfully built, this would be the largest project ever tor the company ne Un te States is due to make a decision on whether or not to allow the pipeline to be built by the end of the year. However it looks like that against strong opposition from environmentalist and oil companies alike, President Obama is planning on passing legislation that would allow Keystone XL to be brought into fruition. If Keystone XL is built, the United States and Canada are looking at end-to-end environmental degradation, from water pollution, to unheard of amounts greenhouse emissions to mounds of carcinogenic toxic sludge. When looking at TransCanadas previous history, their pipes tend to leak. It is inevitable that this pipeline will flounder under pressure. When thinking of the Keystone XL in terms of seepage, the question to ask is not if there will be a leak, but rather where and when will there be a leak. This underground pipeline has plans to run through some fragile terrain, including the Ogallala Aquifer. One of the largest resh water reserves in the world, The Ogallala Aquifer spans eight states, provides drinking water for two million people, and supports $20 billion in agriculture. A leak into this reserve could cause mass hysteria and a total annihilate of the economy in the mid-west. If more and more of our oil comes from bitumen that simply means that more and more greenhouse gasses are going to be emitted. Currently our world is in a state of anguish due to the amount of carbon secreted into the atmosphere. By increasing those emissions three fold, we are pushing our planet into a state of run- away climate change. The additional greenhouse gasses from the tar sands will even farther degrade the ozone layer. As that happens, average temperatures of the earth will rise. As the earth heats up so do the ocean, in turn melting ice in the arctic and possibly even causing Greenland to disintegrate. The oceans do their best to absorb excess carbon so the atmosphere does not have to. When the oceans increase in temperature they release their stored carbon. Once this occurs there is increasingly less hope for the recovery of the planet. If and when Greenland goes, the oceans could rise 20 feet, essentially leaving the earth in state unfit to sustain humans. When taking these factors into account it seems completely illogical to give the go- ahead to a project that could cause such devastation. Nevertheless if you apply externality theory to the issue, one might temporarily understand some of the reasoning behind Obamas decision to even consider the possibility of Keystone XL. First of all it will create Jobs. Approximations of upwards of 20,000 American Jobs could be created in the working and construction of the pipelines and refineries. Secondly the United States is constantly talking about wanting to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. Canada has recently outplaced Saudi Arabia for the umber one supplier of oil to the United States. For us, Canada is a reliable, stable source of oil. There is a direct connection to the United States and our neighbors to north. Deciding to create the pipeline would also be the safest bet for Obama personally. With unemployment rates so low, it would look good for him to get some people to work, even for the short run, especially during a tough election year. He would also appease many conservatives by hypothetically lessening the amount of consumed foreign oil. In this case the President would seemingly be ignoring the opposition to the Keystone XL, mostly people who voted him into office. He knows that environmentalist and Green Party members would rather die than vote republican, so even though these groups are angry, he still can count on their votes. You can take these ideas like Job creation and declining dependence and examine them a little closer only to find that they have seemingly more negative effects than positive. We can look to the social and health costs Alberta is facing due to tar sand development as a prediction of what is to come in our county if we bring in bitumen. Economically, cities around the tar mining pits are having tougher times than ever. Basic needs such as housing are becoming outrageously expensive due to limited infrastructure around tar areas. Skilled workmen are expensive and hard to come by because most of them have transitioned into working for the tar sands. Traffic is increasing and gas prices are even up because all of the oil they are producing is getting shipped to the United States. As a result of these meek economic conditions, Alberta has seen an increase in substance abuse, family violence and gambling. Work conditions in the tar sands consist of long hours, abusive situations, bad accommodation and remote locations. Lack of Job security is also a common complaint. Worker safety is an increased problem as drilling rigs and mine sites are some of the most dangerous work environments. People that are around tar sands on a regular basis have a tendency to develop extremely rare cancers and disorders. The tar is also known to cause repertory disease in workers as well as people in the community. Jobs that would be created from this proposed plan would be most likely temporary or dangerous. Being exposed to such strong carcinogens is likely to cause server damage to workers over an extended amount of time, leaving them unfit to ver work again. Also, if there were to be a leak in the pipe that would contaminate water and air sources, it could cause people not affiliated with the tar sands to be permanently disabled and or cause their lively hood to be destroyed. Subsides are taken by peoples bodies when air and water become a dumping ground for private industries. As for the aspect of weaning our country off of the teat of foreign oil, tar sands are simply not the answer. The oil that would be refined in Texas would not be solely used within our country. The plan is to expand and sell to the global market. This would mean that the oil would be exported out of the United States and w e would see an increase in domestic gas prices, much like the citizens of Alberta did. The United States needs to make a decision of not where they want to keep getting their dirty fuel from, but rather when do they want to stop using dirty fuels and make the switch to greener and sustainable ways of obtaining energy. By investing in green energy we could create lasting, safe Jobs, stop humiliating our planet and finally cut off the dirty oil. The best way the United States could say to the rest of the world that hey do not agree with abysmal tar sands practices would be to oppose the creation of this Keystone XL pipeline. Our government could finally give the environment the fair nod it deserves by not considering this project. The United States could set an example by Just saying no to partaking in tar sand methods and prove to be the progressive world power house we always strive to be. It seems that the only reason that tar sands are even considered being brought here is because the consequences will not be seen until the future. The country needs to take a stand for the future instead of always focusing on the now.