Alberta Tar Sands Essay

“Only when the last tree had died and the last river has been poisoned…will we realize that we cannot eat money”. This is an old Cree saying that is very applicable today. Is the mining of the Alberta tar sands worthwhile, knowing its devastating effects on the environment? There are very valid points for both arguments, being them economical, political, environmental, or moral. The mining of bitumen is not something that is sustainable for the environment, or the companies involved. Although these open-pit mines produce much of the world’s oil, people should consider paying more at the pumps rather than destroying the only world we have to live in. The tar sands in Alberta essentially benefit every country but Canada, and everyone will have to pay the price of the damage caused to the environment. Pollution is caused in the production of bitumen, as well as in its consumption.
The first documented European discovery of the tar sands in the Athabasca region of Northern Alberta was made by Alexander Mackenzie in 1773.1 Over one hundred years later in 1899, Charles Mair and a party of Dene natives explored the Athabasca area by request of the Canadian government.1 Mair and his party stayed at the northern fur trading post of Fort Chipewan.1 Following his visit to the region, Mair made a very prophetic statement: “That this region is stored with a substance of great economic value is beyond all doubt, and, when the hour of development comes, it will, I believe, prove to be one of the wonders of Northern Canada”.1 Commercial development of the Alberta tar sands first began in 1967 by Suncor . The oil crisis in 1973 sparked investor’s interest in mining development in Alberta, and Herman Kahn proposed that the Canadian government begin mining the tar sands.1 However, the Trudeau government believed that it would overheat the economy, create steel shortages, unsettle the labor market, and drive up the Canadian dollar.1 Now, instead of Canada mining the tar sands,