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Developing a Vision for Canada’s Oil Sands Development |
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FORT MCMURRAY, ALBERTA, Sep. 28 -/E-Wire/--
A multi-stakeholder committee of representatives from government, the petroleum industry, First Nations, and environmental organizations has been formed to develop a ‘vision’ for the future of the oil sands, and has begun public consultation meetings across Alberta.
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Everything about the oil sands is massive. An estimated 175 billion barrels of recoverable crude reserves - placing Canada second in the world behind Saudi Arabia - are held within an area larger than the state of Florida. 1.1 million barrels of bitumen are produced daily, and that figure is expected to triple by 2016. Industry has announced approximately $87 billion of investment in oil sands projects from 1996 through to 2016.
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The rapid pace of development has created an industrial juggernaut that is affecting both the environment and the quality of life in nearby communities.
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Huge areas of land are churned up during surface mining. Surface oil sands span over 3,000 square kilometers of boreal forest.
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The Athabasca River, which supplies the industry with process water and Alberta communities with drinking water, is being increasingly stressed by oil sands extractions. Industry is currently permitted to withdraw more than double what the City of Calgary uses domestically.
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Through efforts to become more efficient and reduce environmental impacts, companies have made many improvements.
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Suncor reports that emissions intensity of greenhouse gases, sulphur dioxide, and nitrous oxide have decreased steadily since 2000.
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But total greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impacts are on the rise due to increased production levels, even with the application of advanced technologies and environmental management plans.
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As a result, the oil sands are the single largest source of the increase in Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions in the past decade.
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Oil sands companies point to technology improvements that have made development less harmful, such as improved water recycling, emissions scrubbing, and waste heat capture. By making further advances, oil sands extraction can continue to deliver economic benefits while minimizing environmental impacts.
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Innovation is one component of a three-part plan for sustainable development from Suncor. Cleaner energy technologies such as wind, solar, and biofuels are also a part of what the company calls the ‘parallel path’ to energy development.
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The Oil Sands Technology Roadmap identifies a number of technology areas in which the industry can make progress. Becoming more energy and water-efficient, expanding carbon capture and sequestration, and using alternative fuels such as hydrogen are some of the paths forward, but the plan doesn’t offer specific timelines or detailed instructions.
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The question is how to set those targets and go about achieving them. Industry would seem to prefer voluntary initiatives, and has been making progress so far. But would a regulatory impetus, in the form of emissions reduction requirements, rules for water use, and constraints on land disturbance, provide a framework that encourages innovation without hindering development too much? What about a cap on greenhouse gas emissions accompanied by a ‘carbon trading’ system?
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Such regulations could be designed to make the industry a world leader in efficient hydrocarbon production, developing technologies that can be exported to other petroleum producers around the world. Establishing specific timelines for environmental improvements could help catalyze government and industry spending on research and development.
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The next steps will be to participate in a planning process that takes the interests of all Albertans and Canadians into account, and to develop the valuable resource of the oil sands in a responsible manner that benefits everyone. It is an issue which the entire country, and the rest of the world, will be watching closely.
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For more on the oil sands consultation process, visit GLOBE-Net. Contact Info:
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Dr. John Wiebe
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President and CEO
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The GLOBE Foundation of Canada
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Tel : 604-775-5822 Website : The GLOBE Foundation of Canada
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