Impacts Of Canadian Oil Sands

1.0 Introduction
The oil sands in Canada (also referred to as tar sands) have been subject to some of the most controversial energy production strategies and economy boosting techniques that have been seen in the past decade. There continues to be much debate over whether the economic benefits outweigh the environmental concerns, or vice versa. Throughout this research paper, the environmental impacts of the Canadian Oil sands will be analyzed, followed by the accompanying economic impacts. Next, the future sustainability of this industry and technology will be discussed, concluded by a recommendation as to whether this form of energy would be viable as a part of a sustainable future.
1.1 History of Oil Sands
Oil sands were formed from decomposing
The research lead to Dr. Karl Clark of the Alberta Research Council and the University of Alberta developing and attempting to perfect the process of bitumen extraction. Bitumen was discovered to be the valuable substance found in the oil sands that could be most useful towards energy production. The first commercial large scale oil sands development (the Great Canadian Oil Sands project) started in 1967 in Alberta, taken on by Suncor Energy (named Sun Oil Company) at the time. This created the first oil sands operation in the world. In 1969, approval was given for the second major production facility to Syncrude [2].
1.2 Extraction and Conversion
To extract the bitumen from the oil sands, two different extraction methods are used, each of which are very unique, but both cause significant damage to the environment. The two extraction methods most commonly used for bitumen extraction are subsurface mining and in situ extraction.
Subsurface mining is the process by which an open pit or burrow is mined, often located less than 50 meters below the ground surface. In Canada, there is an area of approximately 2800 km2 which is considered “surface mineable” [2]. Strip mining is limited on the depth of the bitumen reservoirs, and it is estimated that almost 80% of the Canadian oil sands are below the maximum depth achievable by surface mining [3]. There must be extensive
These methods have resulted in approximately 55% of the bitumen production in Alberta in 2014 [3]. In-situ extraction involves the injection of high pressured steam through underground wells, which helps heat and reduce the viscosity of cold subsurface bitumen, in order to easily facilitate its transportation towards the surface. In the category of in-situ extraction methods, there exists two that are most commonly used. Firstly, high-pressure cyclic steam stimulation is a method in which cycles of steam are repeatedly injected into either vertical or horizontal wells, which then soaks in the bitumen for long periods of time, often several months. Once the viscosity of the bitumen has reached the threshold necessary to facilitate transportation, it is then pumped to the surface. Steam-assisted gravity drainage is a method in which steam is injected underground through only horizontal wells, which facilitates the pumping of bitumen at that time by reducing its