The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation and Shell Oil

15Imperials Kearl Mine, for example, will cover 200 sq. km (an area larger than Washington, DC) and produce nearly four megatonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) a year.25 Thats the same as 800,000 passenger vehicles on the road.

Canadas Tar sands contain the worlds third largest oil deposits after Saudi Arabia. Surface mining can extract around 20% of the oil and currently covers about 550km2. There are over 30 companies active in the tar sands.

The Alberta Oil Sands

20% - Surface Mines

80% - In Situ (SAGD)

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There is nothing on this planet that compares with the destruction going on there. If there were a global prize for unsustainable development, the tar sands would be the clear winner.

~David Schindler, ecology professor at the University of Alberta

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The Mines

OverburdenSince operations began, tar sands extractors have moved more than 1.4 billion tons of what industry calls overburden which is actually pristine Boreal forest. This is more dirt than was moved for the Great Wall of China, the Suez Canal, the Great Pyramid of Cheops and the 10 largest dams in the world . combined.

20What industry calls overburden. I like to call trees, life, muskeg, plants, medicine

Tailings Ponds

Cover an area over 170 square kilometresAnnual licensed oil sands withdrawals are equal to a city of 3 millionEveryday tailing ponds leech over 11 million litres of toxic contaminants into the Athabasca watershed & Mackenzie River BasinTailings Ponds

21This looks like a Lake to me, in fact, these toxic tailings are more comparable to large lakes. These toxic sludge lakes reaches up to 170 square kilometeres.

The de-watering of rivers and streams to support the tar sands operations is one of the major threats to cultural survival of not only my community, but many Indigenous peoplesin the area. The battle over the tar sands mining comes down to the fundamental right to exist as Indigenous peoples vs corporate and capitalistic rights to develop.

Steam Plants (SAGD)

A Larger Environmental Footprint than surface mining80% of recoverable tar sands deposits will be extracted by In Situ

22Due to steam leaks, low productivity and poor-quality bitumen formations, CO2 emissions from the steam plants can range from 20 to 400 kg per barrel.30Emissions from Opti-Nexens Long Lake project, for example, are conservatively estimated to range from 174 to 374 kg per barrel.31 In contrast, StatoilHydro says CO2 emissionsfrom North Sea oil production range from 8 to 19 kg.

Jiri Rezac/WWF-UKSAGD has a larger environmental footprint than open-pit mines

2323The technology also has a substantial surface footprint. A typical project occupies a 25-square-kilometre area and directly destroys 7% of the land. But the technology supporting roads, pipelines and seismic lines industrialize the forest so completely that it makes the land inhospitable for much wildlife. A 2008 report by the industry- and government-funded Cumulative Environmental Management Association disclosed that SAGD, as currently designed, would extirpate caribou, fish, bear and moose over a region 400,000 hectares in size. Even better industrial practices dont make much of a difference. They dont change the destination for wildlife, but it does take longer to wipe them out, explains land use ecologist and study contributor Brad Stelfox. With SAGD, there is a profound loss of species.

2424Dr John OConnor

Next slide shows simulation of future development footprint based development of existing leases

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2727Dr John OConnor

Land ImpactsAs of 2009, 686 km2 of land had been lost to surface mining (up from 470 km2 in 2007). After 50 years of operations, only 0.16% of land has been certified as reclaimed Approximately 9.4 hectares of land or 18 football fields are consumed for each million barrels of oil. At current production rates, that represents 13 football fields of pristine boreal lost each day.In Situ threatens more land than mining and represnets 80% of future developments

BEFORE

`Equivalent land use capacity AFTERTo date, less than 2% of all tar sands operations have been certified as reclaimed

Migratory Pattern DisruptionsCaribouMooseBisonSong birdsWaterfowlFish

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Contaminants in Traditional Foods

321. than the acceptable level in terms of cancer risk.

Scientific reports show that toxic contaminants are present in water and traditional foods used by First Nations living near the tar sands.The levels could lead to 453 additional cases of cancer for every 100,000 residents.

Contamination of People through contamination of waterways and food chain

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Fort Chipewyan

34The community of Fort Chipewyan is approximately 250km North or downstream from Major Tar Sands Development. In this map you can see from space a visual of one of the tailings ponds that sits right next to the Athabasca river which feeds into Lake Athabasca and the community of Fort Chipewyan.

Biomonitoring Study 2013

Canada is the testing grounds

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