Alberta's Oil Sands in pictures

[Ronald Pagan]

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/20...ck-photography

National Geographic has a good spread on the oil sands.

Thought it was interesting if not controversial.

[habernac]

I grew up in Fort McMurray, worked at the Suncor plant a few summers. Everyone wants cheap energy to run their vehicles, heat their homes, etc. Do they think oil flows out of trees like sap?

[Boblobla]

All this talk in the States about decreasing independence on oil from unfriendly nations but they also don't want out 'dirty' Alberta oil.

I read somewhere (I will see if I can find the article) that sales of these environmentally friendly hybrid cars are down 50% since the drop in the price of gas. That demonstrates to me the actual desires of the people of America.

I found this from some hippy site, not the article I originally read.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009...8-way-down.php

[cyclone3483]

nice, thanks

National Geographic always have outstanding photography and usually fairly neutral reporting.

[Ronald Pagan]

I read somewhere (I will see if I can find the article) that sales of these environmentally friendly hybrid cars are down 50% since the drop in the price of gas. That demonstrates to me the actual desires of the people of America.

That demonstrates some degree of economic rationalism and the elasticity of demand for gas to me. I find comfort in that.

[peter12]

What really concerns me are the rising cancer rates in towns south of Fort Mac and the anemic response by Alberta's public health institutions.

[DFO]

I don't know if I buy into the part about the cancer rates. The Athabasca has been full of hydrocarbons well before humans hit the scene. Has anybody seen the banks of the river? They are made up of McMurray oilsand!

[brownie]

Originally Posted by DFO

I don't know if I buy into the part about the cancer rates. The Athabasca has been full of hydrocarbons well before humans hit the scene. Has anybody seen the banks of the river? They are made up of McMurray oilsand!

Yup I have.....on hot days in the summer you can see the tarsand oozing out of the riverbanks.

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by peter12

What really concerns me are the rising cancer rates in towns south of Fort Mac and the anemic response by Alberta's public health institutions.

FYI the Athabasca river flows North

[kevman]

Originally Posted by peter12

What really concerns me are the rising cancer rates in towns south of Fort Mac and the anemic response by Alberta's public health institutions.

The river runs north.

[habernac]

the pulp mills nearer the Rocky Mountains were poisoning the Athabasca long before big oil showed up.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by peter12

What really concerns me are the rising cancer rates in towns south of Fort Mac and the anemic response by Alberta's public health institutions.

Huh?

[AFireInside]

Originally Posted by brownie

Yup I have.....on hot days in the summer you can see the tarsand oozing out of the riverbanks.

I was born and raised in McMurray, moved to Calgary for University years ago and stayed. I'm really sick of the bitching about the oilsands. As Habernac pointed out, everyone wants cheap energy for vehicles etc, unfortunately there are costs associated with it. I think it would be funny to see how many of those who are so concerned about the environment would stay if they shut down the oilsands in Alberta.

This quote from an article I read on the cancer rate is interesting when you put it together with what you are saying.

"A generation ago, Lake Athabasca was clear and clean enough that Fort Chipewyan residents drew their drinking water straight from it, and thought nothing about dipping a cup over the side of a canoe during hunting trips."

As far as the rising cancer rates, they are speaking of towns NORTH of the plants, not SOUTH. There is little proof that its actually the case though. From the report I read, which is from about 2 weeks ago.

http://www2.canada.com/topics/news/n...tml?id=1262829

"The signal that we saw is not a very strong signal," he said. "These could be due to chance. They could be due to increased detection of cancers. They could be due to increased risk in the community (such as lifestyle or the environment) and our investigation really can't go any farther in distinguishing these."

[Ronald Pagan]

Originally Posted by DFO

I don't know if I buy into the part about the cancer rates. The Athabasca has been full of hydrocarbons well before humans hit the scene. Has anybody seen the banks of the river? They are made up of McMurray oilsand!

The oil isn't the problem.

It's the giant tailings ponds full of toxic chemicals that are leaking at an incredible rate into the river.

[mykalberta]

Alberta Oilsands - Kills ducks.

Saudia Arabia Oil - Crashes planes into the WTC.

Take you pick and shut your mouth is what the argument should be.

[Ronald Pagan]

Irrefutable logic.

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by Ronald Pagan

The oil isn't the problem.

It's the giant tailings ponds full of toxic chemicals that are leaking at an incredible rate into the river.

Link plz.

Originally Posted by mykalberta

Alberta Oilsands - Kills ducks.

Saudia Arabia Oil - Crashes planes into the WTC.

Take you pick and shut your mouth is what the argument should be.

Look into how many birds are killed by that nice clean wind energy on an annual basis. Those numbers aren't reported as much but it is a sh*tload more that 400...

[photon]

As conventional oil gets harder and harder to extract, oil sands will become more and more necessary.

If you are the US, do you want to get it from Alberta where you probably have some influence over what kinds of measures they take to mitigate the problems, or Saudi Arabia? Or Russia?

[photon]

PEDOBEAR STOP LOOKING AT ME!

[burn_this_city]

I like the shifty eyes..