NY Times, By CLIFFORD KRAUSS and ELISABETH ROSENTHAL, Published: May 18, 2010
CONKLIN, Alberta — Beneath the subarctic forests of western Canada, deep under the peat bogs and herds of wild caribou, lies the tarry rock that is one of America’s top sources of imported oil.
There is no chance of a rig blowout here, or a deepwater oil spill like the one from the BP well that is now fouling the Gulf of Mexico. But the oil extracted from Canada’s oil sands poses other environmental challenges, like toxic sludge ponds, greenhouse gas emissions and the destruction of boreal forests.
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Comments: 6
Even better, we need to develop and utilize less or non-polluting alternatives to the use of oil.
As a citizen of a state that has the largest supplies of oil shale in the US, and who has seen the boom and bust cycle of oil shale exploitation, I can tell you why we haven't seen oil shale development.
1. Water. Every gallon of oil produced from shale still requires 40 gallons of water. The water isn't here, we live in the high desert. Water is more precious than gold.
2. Even the most advanced methods of oil shale extraction are environmentally destructive.
We can't have our cake and eat it too. Maybe, since Canada has already agreed to the devil's bargain, we should ship the shale there for processing.