Alberta Oil Sands

          I think that the drilling of oil sands in Alberta is bad for everyone and it should be monitored and controlled for its environmental hazards. Back in the days, when the price of oil skyrocketed, oil was discovered in Canada, in Alberta to be specific. This oil has been called over the past years “tar sands” or “oil sands”. What we all did not realize was the effects of this to the environment. We now realize that there are social, legal and ethical implications associated with this. Socially, people are affected: their food source, social interactions, etc. Legally, since people now realized that the drilling of the oil has caused these social implications, normal people are now trying to rage legal actions against the companies responsible for the drilling. Ethically, since people are fighting whether the drilling of oil is good or bad for everyone, people are starting to hate each other and their ethical views are affected.

          Social implications happen every time. In the case of the oil sands, these social implications involve the environment, which a very critical part of today’s society. The drilling plants require the use of water to extract the oil out of the oil sands. This involves taking water from the nearest water source, the Athabasca River, and then disposing the water into the tailing ponds built by the companies. Coincidentally, one of the tailing ponds has been built right next to the Athabasca River, which is also one of the sources of food and water of a nearby first nation settlement, Fort Chipewyan. According to the documentary H2Oil, the waters of the Athabasca River is getting toxic due to the leak from the tailing ponds, which is leaking 67 liters of toxic water into the Athabasca River every second. The documentary showed a picture of a fish caught from the river, showing a huge tumor in its body. According to the scientist featured in the documentary, the waters of Athabasca contain traces of:

-         - Arsenic                             -Phosphorous

-          -Aluminum                        -Cadmium

-          -Chromium                        -Mercury

-          -Lead

Because of this, one of the major food source of the people in Fort Chipewyan has been greatly affected, thus, leaving them no choice but to buy food from other sources, which affects their finances greatly. The cases of cancer around the Athabasca River have also increased greatly. Sancor Oil Company states that there have been 312- 453 per 100,000 people additional cases of cancer reported. This affects the not only the people of Fort Chipewyan but everybody in Alberta as well.

          Considering all this, the people have taken legal actions during the past few years. However, they expectedly lost to the big oil companies they were trying sue for the effects they have caused to the environment of Alberta. During the history of Alberta, there has never been this high number of carbon emissions until the discovery of oil in Alberta. Also, the lands Alberta could have used for further developments have been leased to the giant oil companies drilling oil in Alberta. About 4,750 square kilometers of land has been leased to oil sands mining operations, such as Suncor and Syncrude. These are just good reasons why the people of Alberta are attempting to sue not only the government of Alberta for letting these oil companies drill oil in their province, but also to the oil companies who are irresponsible on how they control their carbon emissions and their waste products, which then both affect the environment of Alberta and the ozone layer greatly. According to the Royal Society of Canada Expert Panel, “The development of oil sands of Northern Alberta has become an issue of growing public interest in recent years, with highly polarized views of being presented by different stakeholders, including Fist Nations environmentalist, industries and government, about merits of oil sands development in relation to its views, the scale of investment and development in the oil sands is a major factor in Canada’s economy, making the issues involved of vital importance to Canadians.” This statement basically states that because the development of the oil sands has greatly contributed to Canada’s economy, people should be able to have a say on this issue. Essentially, this statement also means that the citizens of Canada and Alberta specially, have all the right to express their views against the drilling of oil in Alberta and sue the oil companies and the government of Alberta into that degree. Even though the citizens are not successful so far with their indictments against the oil companies, I think that these arguments should help them with their indictment against the oil companies;

Ø  The oil companies are not responsible enough with their waste disposal.

Ø  Statistically, the levels of toxic chemicals in the waters of in Alberta rose since the discovery of oil in the province.

Ø  According to studies, the number of cases of cancer has risen dramatically since the discovery of Alberta’s “black gold”.

Ø  It has been proven that there have been leaks in the tailing ponds and they are leaking to the Athabasca River, which is a major water source in Alberta.

Ø  Since development began around 40 years ago, 84,000 square kilometers of land underlain with oil sands deposits has been leased in Alberta, accounting for about 60% of the total resource area.

        Ethically, there have been very major implications caused by the drilling of the oil sands. Ethics are moral principles that govern a person's or group's behavior. Since the people have realized the hazards caused by the oil development in Alberta, they have been fighting with the government since, legally that is. The Athabasca Delta, where the oil sands are located, is a breeding ground for hundreds of species of birds. But these breeding grounds are destroyed to clear the land for oil production. The Athabasca Delta, where the oil sands are located, is a breeding ground for hundreds of species of birds. But these breeding grounds are destroyed to clear the land for oil production. The Athabasca Delta is also one of Alberta’s proud wonders. People used to love having a serene place where they could have camping while having a family gathering, then the men would go fishing while the ladies pick flowers around the forest, and the children would go see the different animals wandering around the forests. But now, all this tradition fades away since the drilling of oil and the Alberta government allowed the big boys from the oil companies flatten the Athabasca Delta for their oil projects. As of now, there are only patches of polluted forests left in what used to be the beautiful Athabasca Delta, where birds from different countries travel to breed and have vacations during the winter season in their native countries; where families used to camp and then have fun with each other. Ethics and traditions that not only did the oil companies drilling in Alberta break, but also the Alberta government.

          As of now, Canada has become one of the world’s biggest oil suppliers in the world. Canada has been able to match big oil producing countries like Saudi Arabia in the oil market, producing up to 2.9 million barrels of oil per day. This success, of course, has some consequences. Canada chose to produce more and more oil and impress the world’s oil market with a bang but what do we get in return? A chunk of polluted land that should be considered crap because now, we can’t do anything with it. We ignored the social implications of having polluted lands, people having sick and food resources dying. What is going to happen to Alberta’s future generation? What is going to happen to Canada’s future population with them knowing that a province of Canada has an environment that is slowly dying due to pollution? What actions does the government of Alberta, and even Canada itself, have to do to prevent further extinction of Alberta’s natural resources? Are we going to see more of this scenario as time passes by and Canada becomes greedier with money and would take the gamble of destroying its own natural resources? According to H2Oil, even the government itself is covering for the oil companies drilling oil in Alberta. What does the people affected by this catastrophe has to do for the government and the oil companies to see the effects of this dilemma? I just can’t fathom seeing that I’m right here, chilling by the breeze of fresh air while 3,000 kilometers to my east people are dying of the luxury I get from the oil they produce.