Oilsands Likened to Bleak Tolkien World

She said she was shocked to see steam rising from the ground, no birds in the sky and no animals when she made her first-ever visit to the region by bus and helicopter, joined by a delegation of 25.
(from the linked article.)
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What did she expect? Verdant forest? Limpid sweet-water pools? Herds of antelope?

You would have thought she'd get a clue from the term "Oilsands"...:rolleyes:
 
pyan said:
What did she expect? Verdant forest? Limpid sweet-water pools? Herds of antelope?

You would have thought she'd get a clue from the term "Oilsands"...:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I expect it may have been due to the fact that northern Alberta is part of Canada's great boreal forest. In fact Ft. McMurray, the city that is the centre of oilsands development, can only be reached by flying over or driving through hundreds of kilometres of forest. The contrast of such devastation in what appears to be a natural area would no doubt be astounding. The area was a region that once featured abundant wildlife and in fact the area beyond oil sands development contains a large wildlife population where Aboriginal Canadians still hunt and fish.
 
Quote:


A spokesman for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said: "We take our environmental responsibilities seriously but reject any calls for a moratorium."




It sounds like he takes his profit margin more seriously than the enviromental responsibilities if you ask me!
 
Um, had she never seen piccies of the Gulf or California during the oil boom ? With derricks & donkey pumps, oily puddles, pipe-lines, mud and burn-offs to the horizon ?? IIRC, part of the Lake Baikal area is still like that. And strip-mining coal ain't pretty, either...

FWIW, nuclear power may be 'clean' at power station, but the mining and residuals are just as messy as coal and, statistically, less radioactive....

Has anyone forgotten where the raw materials for solar panels or wind-farms come from ? And dam --or tidal barrage-- building takes a heap of stuff you gotta haul from some-where...

What really bugs me is that this tar-sand oil will flow straight into a culture that still pays a few bucks per gallon for gasoline, considers a 3-litre Saturn Aura sedan to be an 'economy' car...
 
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