Athabasca Oil Sands

The Athabasca oil sands, more commonly known as the Alberta tar sands, are large deposits of heavy crude oil in the North Easterly reaches of Alberta. According to Alberta Energy, the oil sands are the third largest crude oil reserves in the world. Only two countries, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, possess reserves greater than Canada (Alberta Energy, 2012). Arguably, the capital gained from exporting Athabasca bitumen or crude oil (a form of petroleum) promotes job and economic growth, and also contributes royalties toward Albertan education and healthcare. On the other hand, the growing reliance on the Athabasca oil sands makes the Canadian economy incredibly susceptible to collapses in global oil prices. Furthermore, the region immediately…

Located in northeastern Alberta (Pasqualetti 2009, p. 248) are the “largest oil-sand deposits in the world” (Pasqualetti 2009, p. 250). The Alberta oil sands provide a necessary resource that is valuable to the Albertan and Canadian economies. The oil sands have received ample attention in recent years from the media and from various environmental agencies and groups due to “growing concern about a range of environmental impacts” (Jordaan 2012, p. 3611). These concerns are not without merit, as…

Arctic Enterprises is an ATV, side by side, and snowmobile company. This Company's first name was Polar Manufacturing, but was soon changed to Arctic Enterprises. Arctic cat went bankrupt in 1982. Arctco, a new company took over Arctic Enterprises to keep producing Arctic cat machines, Two year after the bankrupt. Arctco was so successful they changed there name to Arctic Enterprises and kept selling Arctic Cat machines. The first Arctic Cat snowmobile was launched in 1961, and Arctic…

Latitude, evils of society, Alberta oil sands, and the UN affects Canada physically and culturally. Physically, latitude affects the climate. Culturally, the evils of society affect the way people think about Canada. However, Canada does have some positive factors; such as the oil industry and being apart of the UN. The oil industry is one of Canada’s top industry and trade, which might have contributed to Canada being one of the leaders in the UN, Canada is seen as the peacekeepers. Latitude…

often not viewed as a priority, which allows for many individuals to cause damaging effects such as the creation of the Alberta tar sands in order to economically benefit as mentioned. Currently, the world is already facing various threats such as climate change due to an increase in green house gasses and the tar sands only further contributes to this increase. The tar sands are responsible for approximately 8.5 per cent of Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions (“Energy Alberta”, n.d).…

significant leap to change their ways before it too late and thrive to become environmental stewards. Alberta oil sand is a prime example of how humans play a crucial role in the destruction of the environment. Alberta oil sand is one of the largest industrial projects in the world and mostly known as “the biggest environmental crime” in history. However, over the years there is been various debate concerning the Alberta oil sand and its effects on the environment. The procedure of mining oil…

“Tarmageddon”, an essay authored by Andrew Nikiforuk, demonstrates how the tar sands have negatively impacted Canada both economically and environmentally. The environmental factors are elaborated by explaining Canada’s contribution to green house emissions and acid rain when they were once a global leader against such pollutions. Nikiforuk compares Canada as being second worst for climate change next to Saudi Arabia since they started using bitumen. He highlights the politics surrounding the…

Also in the article Should the United States Authorize the Keystone XL Pipeline to Import Tar Sand Oil from Canada, it talks about how, "Indigenous peoples (known as First Nations) in Canada are taking the lead to stop the largest industrial project on Mother Earth: the Tar Sands Gig project. Northern Alberta is ground zero with over 20 corporations operating in the tar sands sacrifice zone, with expanded developments being planned. The cultural heritage, land, ecosystems and human health of…

demand for oil continues to increase. When conventional oil resources cannot meet the rapid growth of oil demand, people turn their attention to unconventional oil resources, which is an important source of oil sands. By the sand, asphalt, mineral, clay and water in five parts of the oil sands is a kind of unconventional oil resources. It is distributed widely, and is rich in resources. At present, the world oil sand technology is known to be about 1035.1 cubic meters, accounting for 32%% of the…

Tailing ponds are one of the greatest environmental challenges that the Oil Sands Industries of Alberta and other locations in the world face today. Tailing Ponds can be described as large “dump holes” in which the industry exposes of all the waste materials obtained from the refinement of Bitumen - a raw material which can be processed into oil. Tailing Ponds include many different types of waste materials such as water, fine silts, residual bitumen, salts and soluble organic compounds. They…