2 - Canada's Tar Sands + 6 Issues with Nuclear + Why LNG is not Worth the Risk

How do Oil Mines Impact Indigenous Communities

Oil companies are replacing Indigenous land with mines which currently cover an area larger than New York City

Resulting obsoletion of boreal forests, wetlands, and rerouted waterways

Relevant Corporations

ExxonMobil and Canadian Giant Suncor have developed Alberta's oil sands into one of the largest industrial developments in the world

What are Oil Sands?

Pockets of sand, clay, bitumen, and small amounts of water underground

What is the Issue with Harvesting Oil Sands?

The process results in waste ponds that contaminate ground water with heavy metals

What is the Issue with Utilizing Oil Sands?

Processing plants burn the oil for fuel, releasing nitrogen and sulphur oxides into the air

Resulting bad smell and harmful fumes

Canada's Prevalence in Global Oil Production

Oil sand corporations make over 3 billion barrels of oil a day, making Canada the 4th largest oil producer in the world (US at 1st)

Economic dependence, with oil being Canada's top export and Alberta's mining and energy sectors accounting for a quarter of its economy

Mine Expansion

Almost 500 Olympic swimming pools in oil mines are dug in Canada every day, despite the oil and gas sector being its largest source of GHG emissions

PM Trudeau has made no movement towards lowering production, with output predicted to be even greater in the 2030s

The Ecocide

A terms used by lawyers and environmental advocates to reference the destruction inflicted by tar sands

Attempts to get the International Criminal Code to put ecocide on par with war crimes

Companies' Claims

Exxonmobil has stated that it is committed to conducting business in a way that minimizes adverse environmental impacts, but are not shown to be following through

Deforestation

Terrains that contained forests and drylands have bene converted into unpaved roads due to oil exploration

This further the emissions issue as the carbon previously stored in the trees is being released into the atmosphere

Project Emissions

Deep extraction projects and mines emit what is equal to 21 coal-fired power plants

This is only considering the extraction and processing, not even accounting for emissions from using the fuel

Water Usage and Tail Ponds

2019, approximately 58 billion gallons of water were taken from rivers, lakes, and aquifers for mining projects

Wells of water are used to separate the bitumen from the sand, and the water is laced with hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and acids afterwards

This leaves the water too toxic to return to nature, so they are stored in "tail ponds", which typically leak into other nearby bodies of water regardless

There are over 100 square miles of tail ponds now, and companies are not fulfilling their legal requirement of retrieving the toxic waste

Air Cannons

To rectify the issue of birds dying from toxins in tail ponds, Albertan companies such as Suncar have air cannons, simulated gunshot noises, and iron scarecrows to scare them away from the water

However, the birds continue to ignore these methods, leading to deaths and even near-extinctions (e.g. whooping crane)

Extending to marine animals as well, such as fish dripping with oil after being retrieved from the water and subsequently tasting like gas or fuel

Poisoning the Land

Lake sediments in Fort McMurray have been discovered to contain cancer-causing hydrocarbon chemical compounds, which started rising in the 60's-70's at the same time as oil sands extraction

Federal and provincial governments are trying to dispute the correlation, claiming that it is a natural consequence of bitumen rather than the tail ponds

History Lesson

For a long time there were only two mines in Alberta, but a fear of running out of crude oil and rising prices lead to more opening

Occurred at the same as the fur trade collapse, so jobs were quickly assumed in the oil sector

Fort McKay

A town with a population of 765 in the middle of countless oil and sand mines which decrease viable living areas

Includes two main Indigenous groups which are constantly impacted by these expansions

Former chief partnered with the industries, leading to millions in funded education, elder care, housing, employment opportunities, and more for the population

However the environmental impacts remain detrimental

Impact Benefit Agreements

Signed by First Nations communities and oil companies in each region to limit water withdrawals, implement quotas for hiring Inidgenous individuals, and making direct payments to the nations

Unfortunately, corporations can get away with not honouring these agreements

Opening New Mines, Emission Footprint

Financial analysts say that opening new mines is no longer viable due to high costs of developing oil sands

Emissions footprint will continue to expand for decades as deforestation will continue alongside mine production

Clean up cost of Canada is estimated at 100 billion dollars with the majority of funds needed for oil sand mines

Nuclear Issue #1 - Nuclear Energy Delivers too Little Matter

Doubling nuclear capacity globally by 2050 (bringing in 37 new large reactors annually until then) will only decrease emissions by 4%

Not worth the effort or cost, also unfeasible as we currently max out at 10 new plants per year

Nuclear Issue #2 - Nuclear Power Plants are Dangerous and Vulnerable

Nuclear plants are easy targets for harmful attacks (both physical and cyber) and not built to withstand them

Explosions and release of radioactive material are likely consequences of these attacks

Additionally, since reactors require water as a coolant, plants may be shut down as global water temperatures rise, even now plants in the US and France are shut down during major heatwaves

Nuclear Issue #3 - Nuclear Energy is Too Expensive

Solar costs $36-44 per mWh of generation, onshore wind at $29-56

Nuclear costs $112-189 for the same amount

In terms of LCOE, solar and wind are dropping rapidly while nuclear steadily increases, therefore more expensive in the long run as well

Nuclear Issue #4 - Nuclear Energy is Too Slow

Since 2009, estimated construction time for reactors globally is around 10 years, which is too slow to offset current emissions

During operation cycle, nuclear plants release low emissions but mining for uranium releases a lot

Renewables can be made faster and on a larger scale

Nuclear Issue #5 - Nuclear Energy Generates Huge Amounts of Toxic Waste

Radioactive waste byproducts are harmful to the environment, and no government has developed a mitigation method

Many EU countries argue that labelling nuclear power as sustainable is misleading so it should not be available for green funding (investment in environmental resources)

Nuclear Issue #6 - The Nuclear Industry is Falling Short of its Promises

High costs, technological issues, and delays mean reactor technologies remain insufficient

Many individuals believe that funding should be conversely allocated to renewables

Canada and LNGs

Canada produces more natural gas than needed, exporting around 40% of it

To export natural gas beyond the US, it is liquified into LNGs for easier transportation

LNG Risk #1 - Global Gut in Supply

If Canada continues to develop more LNG facilities, there will be an overproduction issue

High supply + low demand = price drop, so LNG companies will suffer financially

LNG Risk #2 - Investors Could Lose Money

LNGs may become stranded assets is overproduced, so infrastructure will still require maintenance with no financial return

LNG Risk #3 - Excess LNG Undermines Renewable Energy

Lowered prices make LNGs a more attractive energy source than renewables, slowing down transition progress

LNG Risk #4 - Domestic Emissions Increase

Even though LNGs produce less CO2 than coal, methane leaks which occur during drilling, processing, shipping, and storage are a worse consequence, as methane as 80 times more powerful than CO2 at warming the atmosphere

The IPCC says that opening LNG facilities would be detrimental to the 1.5C goal due to the carbon budget

Future LNG Projects in Canada

Many projects are expected in 2030 which would operate and be detrimental to the environment for 20-60 years

BC and LNG advocates claim that production can be net-zero by 2030, but the lack of decarbonization resources makes this an unlikely possibility

Decarbonization efforts should be used to offset other sectors such as transportation instead