Tar Sands Essay

Throughout my travels in Canada, I’ve met many people with differing opinions on the issue of the “Tar sands” or “Oil sands” (I shall use both unambiguously) development. Environmentalists (like myself) and concerned citizens in Canada, as well as the international community, decry that the largest industrial energy project on the face of the planet is destroying future generation’s right to clean soil, water, air, biodiversity and most importantly a stable climate. As well as strong local economy, the current economic setup of the tar sands’ development is to focus on export to foreign countries, leaving Canada with no energy security and a weak local economy. My opinion on this issue is to stop the further development of the tar sands. I will outline the “true” facts of the tar sands and the negative impacts they will cause.
Before I delve into the overwhelming facts against tar sands development, I must first address proponent’s arguments for further development. Big oil companies that reap such huge benefits from utilizing the tar sands, are also the organizations that argue for its expansion. Huge corporate oil companies influence, and in effect, control to an extent mainstream media and massage many so called “facts” of the tar sands to mask one of the biggest crimes against the future of humanity solely for individual profit. They argue that the economic benefits from the tar sands development far outweigh the long term negative effects on the environment. For example “the energy sector accounted for about 30 per cent of Alberta's $290-billion gross domestic product in 2008” as well as “over the next 25 years, oil sands are forecast by the Canadian energy research institute to require more than 450,000 annual work positions across Canada” (“Oil sands economic benefits, UOA”). Northern Alberta, Canada has the third largest proven oil reserve in the world, “Alberta's remaining proven oil reserves are 171.8 billion barrels (169.9 billion barrels in the oil