We know that smoking tar isn’t very good for us, but what about extracting oil from it?
Tar sands are large deposits of bitumen mixed with water, sand and clay. It’s more complicated, more wasteful and requires more inputs than conventional oil drilling. Extracting one gallon of oil from tar sands uses up 4 gallons of water. (http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2010/world/tar-sands-oil-production-is-an-industrial-bonanza-poses-major-water-use-challenges/)
The health effects of oil combustion for power and greenhouse gas emissions are well documented. Climate change has multiple catastrophic consequences for health, from damage to housing stock to disruption of harvests. The losses accrue mainly to the poorest, most vulnerable people in the world, but will increasingly be felt by us all.
Another group that loses out when tar sands are exploited for oil is local communities. They suffer displacement of their homes, increasing cancer rates and concerns about contamination of their harvests.
The new Enbridge pipeline will displace 50 First Nations communities in British Columbia. (northern-indymedia.org/videos/882) Two representatives from affected communities in Canada attended the Camp for Climate Action in Edinburgh this week. They wanted to tell their story and tell the UK public that banks which they bailed out with taxes are financing tar sands extraction projects and damaging the health and livelihoods of their people.
Of course someone thinks that they are winning in this oil production, otherwise it wouldn’t be happening, but it certainly isn’t the First Nations communities in BC, or the people experiencing natural disasters, flooding and other effects of climate change. It could be the oil-dependent societies who receive short term gains, but perhaps even these individuals stand to lose out.
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