Alberta Oil Sands - Paper Essay Example
aAlberta Oil Sands
Today in Alberta, a huge economic development is evolving in the Athabasca oil sands. Oils sand is a natural mix of sand, clay, water, bitumen and any other minerals. This combination forms heavy oil that must be treated before it can be employed as usable fuels like gasoline. There are many methods that are currently employed in order to produce fuel from the oil sands. The oil industry is also constantly working on developing new technologies. However, at the same time as this development is happening a controversy is growing as to whether or not the development of the oil sands should be shut down.
The Alberta oil sands benefit Canada in many ways; it is very good for our economic development, it directly and indirectly creates hundreds of thousands of jobs for Canadians, and it generates billions of dollars for Canada. Even with all of these positives, many people believe that the oil sands are destroying the land but “what readers do not see is that all oil sands developments are ultimately reclaimed and returned to a natural state” (An Incomplete Perspective). The Alberta oil sand has also played a huge role in fighting the recession in helping in the recovery of North American economies by creating employment and a long-term economic development plan for the industry. Those against continuing development argue that the industry uses and pollutes both the water and the general environment. In fact, 80-90% of the water used in oil sand development is undrinkable. Also, oil sands development only produces approximately five per cent of all greenhouse gas emission in Canada. Even with all these positives there are still many negatives because the industry has many serious negative environmental consequences. Although many argue that the development of the Athabasca oil sands is great for economic development, overall it is not good for our environment. In the bigger picture, the health of our environment is more
Today in Alberta, a huge economic development is evolving in the Athabasca oil sands. Oils sand is a natural mix of sand, clay, water, bitumen and any other minerals. This combination forms heavy oil that must be treated before it can be employed as usable fuels like gasoline. There are many methods that are currently employed in order to produce fuel from the oil sands. The oil industry is also constantly working on developing new technologies. However, at the same time as this development is happening a controversy is growing as to whether or not the development of the oil sands should be shut down.
The Alberta oil sands benefit Canada in many ways; it is very good for our economic development, it directly and indirectly creates hundreds of thousands of jobs for Canadians, and it generates billions of dollars for Canada. Even with all of these positives, many people believe that the oil sands are destroying the land but “what readers do not see is that all oil sands developments are ultimately reclaimed and returned to a natural state” (An Incomplete Perspective). The Alberta oil sand has also played a huge role in fighting the recession in helping in the recovery of North American economies by creating employment and a long-term economic development plan for the industry. Those against continuing development argue that the industry uses and pollutes both the water and the general environment. In fact, 80-90% of the water used in oil sand development is undrinkable. Also, oil sands development only produces approximately five per cent of all greenhouse gas emission in Canada. Even with all these positives there are still many negatives because the industry has many serious negative environmental consequences. Although many argue that the development of the Athabasca oil sands is great for economic development, overall it is not good for our environment. In the bigger picture, the health of our environment is more