Athabasca Oil Sands

The tar sands production is a large mortality sink for wildlife, and for the air as well as
water. The tar sands is a homogenous mixture of clay, sand, water and
bitumen. The largest amount of sand is located
underneath the Boreal Forest 120km north of
Forth Chipewyan, home to the first nation’s people
and Lake Athabasca. The tar sands has to mined or
used by in-situ method. These methods include
ripping apart the Boreal Forest and using hot water to separate the
bitumen from the sand, clay and water. On the one hand, Alberta is
proud to have the largest tar sand industries in the world. These
industries contribute to decreasing gas prices and allow for greater
access to electrical resources, contributing to foreign trade increasing
Canada’s economy. On the other hand, this comes at a great
environmental cost, which results in the destruction of nature and wildlife leading to long-term
effects such as cancer in humans.

On the one hand, the tar sands has known to cause severe consequences to the
environment and human health. Firstly, tar sands industries have to follow many stages of
extraction to produce oil, which leaves pollution in the atmosphere and water that cannot be
undone. For instance, Dr. David Schnidler a Killam Memorial professor of ecology at University
of Alberta, independently testes for toxin in Lake Athabasca collecting snow samples by the tar
sand production. The results were that 13 different types of
lead are in Lake Athabasca, (The Nature of Things with David
Suzuki: Tipping Point Age of Tar Sands, 1:15:00). The tar
companies are trying their best to undone the damage done
by the oil sands, however they are still causing damage to
the water, which can no long be clean as it used to be done.
Secondly, tar sands production has left the wildlife with
deformities and deaths. For example, Ray ladoucear a Metis
elder and fish of Fort Chipewyan for 53 years and has never
since tar sands development noticed deformations in the fish in Lake Athabasca like a second
jaw, (The Nature of Things with David Suzuki: Tipping Point Age of Tar Sands, 00:08:40). The tar
sand company cannot replace or restore the damage done to the wildlife and water that has
been affected by Lake Athabasca. Finally, long term effects
on the environment created by tar sands production has
caused a cancer epidemic in Fort Chipewyan. Dr.Gina
Solaman a professor of medicine at the University of
California, discovered that the people of Fort Chipewyan
have a 3 times higher rate of getting leukemia and have 7
times higher rate of getting bile duct cancer due to oil
exposure (The Nature of Things with David Suzuki: Tipping
Point Age of Tar Sands, 0:30:27). This is causing millions of
people, such as Jaine Wanderingspirt whose family lives in Fort Chiewyan, to lose a lot of their
family members due to the cancer brought by the toxic tar sands.

On the other hand, the oil sands is great for the economy.
Firstly, it allows for a huge export, which increases the
economy. For example, “almost $68 billion in energy exports,”
(Government of Alberta 2014). This export is mainly to the USA,
were oil is in high demand and is the closest country to export
which reduces transportation cost and generates income.
Secondly, it generates millions of jobs all of Canada. For
instance, “in 2012, approximately 121,500 people were
employed in Alberta's upstream energy sector, which includes
oil sands, conventional oil and gas, and mining,” (Government
of Alberta 2014). This indicates that if it were not for the oil sands, millions of people would not
have money to help generate the Canadian economy. Lastly, the oil sands use up a lot of
supplies from other companies. As illustrated, “It is estimated the oil sands industry will
purchase about $117 billion in supplies and services from Canadian provinces outside Alberta
over the next 25 years – about $5 billion/year,”(Oil Sands Today 2015). Therefore the economy
is generated and profit is made. In conclusion the oil sands is huge part of Canada’s economy
and without it Canada would be different and not a rich.

The tar sands in Alberta have created an infinite amount of environmental problems,
but Alberta and the tar sands company does not pay attention to
because the tar sands are a resource of large income, energy and
decrease oil prices. There are many companies such as
Shell, Esso, BP and China’s Sinopec that are ripping the Boreal
Forest to mine for tar sands in order for a profit, but they do not
think about the environmental issues there tar sand companies
are causing. The production of the tar sands into oil, causing
large tailing ponds and harmful pollutes. This causes deformations and deaths for the
wildlife, poisonous drinking water, air and food, which leads to serious illnesses like cancer.
Tar sands production s turning the people and animals of Fort Chipewyan into
environmental refugees it is contributing to global warming, causing deaths through the
wildlife as well as mankind. Alberta needs to properly insect and improve air and water
quality in Fort Chipewyan. The tar sands companies need to properly
protect their tailing ponds and reduce the amount of production. The
oil sands is not a sustainable resources that Canada can keep taking,
while destroying nature, as in the future it will run out, Canada’s
economy will decrease and the environment will be destroyed.
Therefore, for these reasons I am against Athabasca Oil Sands.
The Government of Alberta and Canada, need to realise that it
is not worth it to invest money, jobs, land and environment into a project such as the oil sands,
since it is not sustainable. Tar sands is non-renewal resources that should not be relied upon to
generate income, as there will not anything else to rely on for income. An example of this is the
gold mine rush in British Columbia, millions of money was invested
into it and then the gold ran out so did people’s money. As the
government of Alberta has researched, between the years of 2013-
2022 its capital will grow to 4207 billion dollars, but that is if it does
not run out beforehand. The government of Canada should invest its
money on a more reliable, sustainable and clean source of energy
such as hydroelectricity, as water is a huge resource available in
Canada. Hydroelectricity is a valuable resource that is not used as often as it should be in
Canada. It is sustainable resource that generate income for the future and continuing.
Therefore, the Canadian economy does not have to suffer as well as the environment. The first
nation people of Fort Chipewyan would greatly appreciate that the Alberta government is not
taking over their land and destroying it. The land used for the oil sands is rightful the first
nation’s people, but since the oil sands was discovered the land was taken away even though
treaties say it is not the government’s property. Also, if Alberta puts a hydro dam in Lake
Athabasca it create jobs and profit in Alberta, while not destroying native land. Thus, shifting to
hydroelectricity is not only benefit the environment, but also the people and economy, which
makes it a win, win situation.
 Work Cited
"Alberta's Oil Sands Economic Benefits." Alberta's Oil Sands Economic Benefits. 1 Jan. 2014.
Web. 23 Mar. 2015. <http://oilsands.alberta.ca/economicinvestment.html.>
Director: Tom Radford - Director: Niobe Thompson - David Suzuki - Canadian Broadcasting
Company and Clearwater Media - 2011
"Economic Contribution." - Oil Sands Today. 1 Jan. 2015. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.oilsandstoday.ca/ENERGYECONENVIRON/Pages/EconomicContribution.as
px.>