Tar Sands

What is Tar Sands?
Oil sands, tar sands, or extra heavy oil is a type of bitumen deposit. The sands are naturally occurring mixtures of sand or clay, water and an extremely dense and viscous form of petroleum called bitumen. They are found in large amounts in many countries throughout the world, but are found in extremely large quantities in Canada and Venezuela.[1] (courtesy of Wikipedia)

Production Process
Bituminous sands are a major source of non-conventional oil. Conventional crude oil is normally extracted from the ground by drilling oil wells into a petroleum reservoir, allowing oil to flow into them under natural reservoir pressures, although artificial lift and techniques such as water flooding and gas injection are usually required to maintain production as reservoir pressure drops toward the end of a field's life. Because extra-heavy oil and bitumen flow very slowly, if at all, toward producing wells under normal reservoir conditions, the sands must be extracted by strip mining or the oil made to flow into wells by in situ techniques which reduce the viscosity by injecting steam, solvents, and/or hot air into the sands. (courtesy of Wikipedia)

What the problems are
http://oilsandstruth.org/

Animals
Animal habitats and health are affected by tar sands production, whether from loss of habitat to any of the infrastructure developments across the continent, or through changes in the atmosphere such as melting polar ice caps in the Arctic brought on by out of control C02 emissions. Poisoning waterways, the food supply and the air in the immediate and not-so immediate surroundings has led to drops and even disappearances of species near pipelines, platforms and other infrastructure of the tarsands.
Climate Change / Emissions
Climate Change is caused by greenhouse gas emissions, in particular carbon. 40% of Canada’s emissions already come from Alberta alone, not counting the entire tar sands infrastructure across North America nor counting the projected increase in tar sands production or the infrastructure built across the continent to accommodate such increases in production. Factor it all in and you get the picture. You haven’t even burned the petrol yet.
Economics
Economics drive tar sands operations. Record highs in oil prices, though still fluctuating, will make tar sand oil ‘economical’ (read: profitable) well into the future.
Energy
Energy and how it is captured and consumed is barely viable in tar sands production. While the amount of oil in places such as the tar sands in Alberta or the Orinoco Belt in Venezuela may have deposits of similar size to the reserves of countries such as Saudi Arabia or Iraq, the return of new energy after expending energy in production is not even close. In Iraq, the process of using one barrel of oil generates 100 new barrels. In the tar sands, estimates of 3 to 1 and even as low as 1.5 to 1 have been made. Offsetting the net energy loss would require minimally 25-30 tar sands facilities for one Saudi plant operating at the same capacity.
Forests
Forests lose more trees and habitat to pipeline “right of way” cuts and tar pit building than to clearcuts. With minor variation, pipelines go the direct route. Through the strip mining of the land that contains tarsand petroleum and through pipeline construction to accomodate, only the Amazon Basin in Brazil would see larger rates of deforestation than the Boreal forest cover surrendered to the tarsands. Roads often accompany pipelines, as do various other developments. Hundreds of thousands of miles of forests, all combined, have been lost to infrastructure built to accommodate tarsands operations.
Health
The Health implications in terms of these projects are vast, and not just the deadly explosions and industrial accidents that happen in production-—from reported increases in rare forms of cancer downstream from tar sands production to the pollution of fresh water leading to poisoned diets (fish, moose and plant toxicity)—-direct links are hard to establish but impossible to either rule out or ignore, especially where tarsand operations constitute overwhelmingly the greatest change to the environment in most corners of the continent affected directly by tarsand infrastructure.
Land
Land, regardless of whether covered by forests, tundra or grasslands, is threatened by mining operations such as Alberta’s vast open tar pit operations, or through incredible networks of “right of way” cuts for pipelines that extend in the hundreds of thousands of miles, all told, and across the continent in four directions and to three oceans—either through feeding the tarsand operations with fossil fuel energy or through feeding energy markets from tarsand operations after production. In the case of pipeline right of ways, they can blast directly through mountains or be buried in permafrost if needed, to get the energy to move.
Water
Water is needed in huge amounts in tarsands production and in all other construction stages of tarsands infrastructure. It takes five litres of water to produce one of usable petrol. There is also water used to move gas, build new tar pits or that water which becomes polluted in the outlying areas. Waste tailings ponds are so vast as to be visible from outer space at this early point in production. Water is now being privatized in slow motion, as “access rights” are available in Alberta. As production grows and climate change continues to parch southern Albertan land, more and more water will be needed to help supply fuel for the American market. This water will ultimately be diverted from rivers, lakes, farms and cities throughout Canada; the water levels in the Athabasca River have already dropped several meters. The Deh Cho/Mackenzie River is already threatened, both from development along its valley and it is downstream from tar sands operations. A generation ago, the Athabasca River was clear and drinking was common. Now, those that live with the river consider it poison and off-limits.

Photos
http://oilsandstruth.org/tar-sands-photo-albums-project

Links
http://www.gstt.org/publications/news/Newsletter19/tar%20sand.htm

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Articles

Keep lid on oil sand option
Saturday, February 21st 2009

Even the most primitive human societies rely on energy from combustion of carbon-rich natural materials such as wood. And certainly the economies of all countries today rely to a considerable extent on utilisation of the fossil fuels like coal, petroleum and natural gas.

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Questions over tar sands
Tuesday, February 17 2009

ENERGY Minister Conrad Enill has opened the proverbial can of worms by his proposal at last Thursday’s post-Cabinet media conference to try to produce crude-oil from tar sand deposits at the Parrylands/Guapo field near La Brea.

He said Cabinet had agreed to licence Petrotrin to explore this possibility in order to maintain the country’s energy revenues in the medium to long term.

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Enill ready to turn Trinidad toxic
Sunday, February 15th 2009

Will Trinidad become one of the most toxic places on earth based on toxicity per square mile? Consider the aluminum plant being built in the southeast, with all the environmental problems to be expected there. We are on a roller coaster downhill. Toxic, I believe, in terms of environmental hazards, and toxic because of the murders, and kidnappings added on.

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Tar sands are dirty business

Published: February 14th, 2009

I am absolutely surprised that Minister Conrad Enill will even suggest that tar sands represent a viable option for Trinidad and Tobago’s energy economy. It is even more surprising that Minister Enill would hold up Alberta as a model.

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Petrotrin to explore Point oil sands
Juhel Browne jbrowne@trinidadexpress.com
Saturday, February 14th 2009

State-owned oil refining and production company Petrotrin is set to carry out exploration activity on land in Parrylands and Guapo Field in Point Fortin to determine the feasibility of extracting tar sands in a field that is anticipated to amount to two billion barrels of oil.

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Govt seeks to boost revenues
By SEAN DOUGLAS Friday, February 13 2009

ENERGY Minister Conrad Enill is seeking new sources of crude oil from tar-sands in an effort to maintain this country’s oil revenues in light of sustained low oil prices.

The failure of world oil prices to bounce back from their sustained doldrums of hovering at around US$40 per barrel has caused the Government to explore tar-sands for the first time ever which Enill calculates could double this country’s oil-reserves. The price yesterday was US$34.

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Tar sands strife - Trinidad and Tobago style
By Renata D’Aliesio 02-12-2009 Inside Alberta Politics

As the Stelmach government touts its new oilsands strategy, the "Canadian model of extraction from the Alberta tar-sands" doesn't seem to be going over very well with some folks in the Caribbean.

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Tar Sands