Alberta Oil Sands Report Card: Substantial Room for Improvement

By: Jamie Phillips

Alberta, Canada (Apr 6) – Deeper Drilling: The In Situ Oil Sands Report Card is the first environmental assessment of its kind and the results are underwhelming, at best.

In situ oil extraction is the procedure used when the oil deposit is too deep to be mined by traditional means. 80% of Alberta’s oil sand resources are too deep to be mined. The in situ process involves drilling several wells and heating up the oil deposits with high temperature steam, so that the bitumen can flow into a well, and be pumped to the surface. The extent of the environmental impact of this process has yet to be fully explored. Enter the Pembina Institute.

In this report, the Pembina Institute compared in situ projects on 17 environmental indicators grouped in five categories: general environmental management, land, air emissions, water and climate change. Nine projects were surveyed. The marks ranged from a low of 25% and a high of a whopping 60%. Five of the nine projects received failing grades, with scores less than 50%. The average mark was 44%.

What this means: Current industry standards are not high enough. One fifth of Alberta’s landscape could be affected by in situ projects. A forested area the size of Scotland is already set aside for in situ development.

Photo: David Dodge, The Pembina Institute

Compared to mining, in situ projects contribute more to climate change, including higher greenhouse gas emissions, sulfur dioxide emission intensities, and higher total water usage. Additionally, the impact on wildlife is equal to or higher than mining.
Not particularly impressed with the results, the Pembina Institute’s report makes several recommendations both to Industry and to Government.

To the Government: Mandate environmental stewardship, do not approve any new project proposals until current projects have pulled their socks up, acknowledge the cumulative effects of in situ development and create a competitive atmosphere for innovation.

To the Industry: incorporate “best practices” and be a leader in development improvements as a standard business model. If companies followed the best available practices, the marks could reasonably increase to 85%. In short: be responsible and accountable.

Posted by jamiephillips on April 6, 2010. Filed under Environment,International News,News,WorldNewsVine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.