Alberta oil sands, fossil fuels flowing south, more coal

[angela bischoff]

One Quarter of Alberta Could Be Mined or Drilled for Oil Sands with 
Major Impacts to Boreal Forest, Water, Air and Climate

Alberta's own tar (oil) sands already comprise the largest industrial 
project on the planet, and there's much expansion in the works. Check 
out this new report on the oil sands by the Pembina Institute 
http://www.oilsandswatch.org/

The newest booklet in the Oil Sands Fever Series, Death by a Thousand 
Cuts: Impacts of In Situ Oil Sands On Alberta's Boreal Forest, 
examines the cumulative impacts of deep (or in situ) oil sands 
extraction across northern Alberta. Environmental concerns about oil 
sands development have mostly focused on the impacts of oil sands 
surface mines just north of Fort McMurray, Alberta. But this is just 
the beginning. Deep oil sands development has the potential to affect 
a forest area 50 times larger than the area already leased for oil 
sands mining. This equals 21% of Alberta, a land area approximately 
the size of Florida. The authors examine alternative strategies of 
managing deep oil sands designed to help protect the boreal forest.

---------------------

from EarthToys online magazine   (perspectives from a yank)
http://www.earthtoys.com/emagazine.php?issue_number=06.12.01&article=draining

DRAINING CANADA FIRST

Sating America's prodigious energy appetite depends on the continued 
availability of Canadian energy sources. About 25% of the crude oil 
and 80% of the natural gas imported into the United States come from 
our very accommodating neighbor to the north. More than half of the 
fuel pumped out of Canadian wells heads south to keep us Yankees warm 
and happily tooling about on our highways.

Even though the Canadian economy is no less dependent on hydrocarbon 
energy than ours, Canada has been drilling as many wells as necessary 
to keep the high-maintenance American economy humming. If this 
pedal-to-the-metal production policy were applied to a non-strategic 
product like, say, maple syrup, few people would care about the 
consequences. But there is nothing on the horizon to replace the 
nonrenewable high-density energy sources that Canada so generously 
sends our way.

This begs the question: how long can Canada go on behaving like 
America's most compliant energy colony?

Not very long, according to David Hughes, a petroleum geologist with 
the Geological Survey of Canada. Speaking before the World Peak Oil 
Conference held in Boston last week, Hughes painted a remarkably 
pessimistic picture of Canada's energy future, especially regarding 
natural gas.

Despite record drilling activity, natural gas extraction volumes have 
slipped from the peak set in 2002, and output per well is now 
declining at an annual rate of 28%. Put another way, energy companies 
must add 3,000 more wells in 2007 on top of the 15,000 now in 
production just to keep output from diminishing.

That would be a daunting challenge even if there were spare rigs and 
drilling crews standing by. As it now stands, there is no spare 
capacity of this sort anywhere in North America.

With only eight years of proven reserves left in Canada, Hughes 
suspects that natural gas output is about to fall off a cliff. 
Barring a miracle or two, Canada will soon experience challenges in 
providing for its own citizens, let alone producing surplus volumes 
bound for American furnaces.

A potentially wrenching resource conflict is now brewing on our 
continent, thanks to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), 
under which Canada effectively gave up sovereignty over its fossil 
energy inheritance. As a signatory, Canada is prohibited from 
unilaterally cutting back energy exports, even in the event of a 
domestic supply crunch. But how long would Canada honor its 
obligations under NAFTA if doing so resulted in its citizens freezing 
to death? American policymakers would be wise to explore how that 
scenario might play out.

If that weren't enough, natural gas is also the key to expanding the 
production of oil from the tar sands of northern Alberta, the only 
oil-producing region left in North America that can increase output. 
The natural gas is the only available fuel for producing the 
pressurized steam needed to separate bitumen, a low-grade oil, from 
sand. Shrinking natural gas supplies would quickly reduce the flow of 
bitumen into the U.S., further complicating Canada's energy dilemma.

The irony of sacrificing a premium energy source to make more 
low-grade fuel for export was not lost on Hughes, who closed with a 
quote from a Canadian energy executive. "Using natural gas to produce 
oil from tar sands is akin to turning gold into lead."

Vickerman is executive director of RENEW Wisconsin, a nonprofit 
organization promoting conservation and renewable energy sources.

--------------------------------------

Nuclear is being considered as a replacement fuel, but the Alberta 
gov't is pegging its hopes on the dirtiest fuel of them all -- coal 
-- in order to replace natural gas for both energy and hydrogen.

http://www.acr-alberta.com/ostr/OSTR_report.pdf

The latest June 2006 NEB update refers to a combined refinery and 
power facility:

"there is a publicly announced proposal for a new refinery complex in 
Alberta. A $7 to $8.5 billion integrated upgrader, petrochemical and 
electrical generation complex near Edmonton is being studied by 
Alberta Energy and 19 stakeholders. The refinery would initially be 
47,700 m3/d (300 Mb/d) and expandable to 71,500 m3/d (450 Mb/d) and 
would include a petrochemical facility and a 500 megawatt coal-fired 
power generation plant. It could be completed as early as 2011. Some 
emerging concerns are that such a mega project could jeopardize other 
announced upgrading projects and expansions already underway."

http://www.neb-one.gc.ca/energy/EnergyReports/EMAOilSandsOpportunitiesChallenges2015_2006/EMAOilSandsOpportunities2015Canada2006_e.pdf

Coal gasification is being considered to supplement/replace natural 
gas as a source of hydrogen etc. for syncrude production, and for 
moving oil sands production up the value chain (ie. 'refining of 
syncrude').

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[links as posted to GoodWork 
<http://www.GoodWorkCanada.ca>http://www.GoodWorkCanada.ca ]

Alternative/Sustainable Energy Links, Resources, Organizations
Energy Conservation 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_conservation>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_conservation
Renewable Energy 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Renewable_energy>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Renewable_energy
Energy Links 
<http://www.planetfriendly.net/energy.html>http://www.planetfriendly.net/energy.html
Alt. Energy Orgs. 
<http://www.planetfriendly.net/energy.html#orgs>http://www.planetfriendly.net/energy.html#orgs
More 
<http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/Issues/Environment/Energy/>http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/Issues/Environment/Energy/

About Tar Sands (now being remarketed as "Oil Sands")
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tar_sands>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tar_sands

Athabasca Oil Sands, Alberta
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabasca_Tar_Sands>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabasca_Tar_Sands
<http://www.google.ca/search?q=athabasca+%22oil+sands%22>http://www.google.ca/search?q=athabasca+%22oil+sands%22
News: 
<http://news.google.ca/news?q=athabasca+%22oil+sands%22>http://news.google.ca/news?q=athabasca+%22oil+sands%22

Oil Fields of Canada
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Oil_fields_of_Canada>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Oil_fields_of_Canada

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


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