Fort Chipewyan, Alberta.
How is Tar Sands extracted?
Tar Sand extraction is real dirty work, it requires skilled people that know how to deal with this toxic oil. There are a few steps of this process to extract tar sands to become oil. The first step is to dig the tar sand up into a giant mine and is deposited onto massive, 400-ton trucks that are then going to be moved to the next stage, which is crush and move, that means that tar sands that is rich in bitumen is ground in an ore preparation plant before being sent by the pipeline to the primary extraction plant. The third stage is to extract all that's in the tar sands away from each other , during the primary extraction process the tar sand is placed in a giant tank where raw bitumen is separated from the sand and water. The second final stage is to dilute the mix the bitumen with naphtha which is a chemical solvent, to remove remaining minerals and water. Last stage is to upgrade, to create synthetic crude oil, the bitumen is heated to 900 degrees in giant furnaces, this process removes excess carbon. Hydrogen is added to prepare it for industrial use.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkwoRivP17A
What is the social issue affecting people who live in the area?
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The social issue affecting people who live in the area of where tar sands are being placed which is northern Alberta where aboriginal communities live. Aboriginal communities who live in the area are and have been having concerns about the ongoing and escalating impacts of the oil sands development on a wide range of issues ( Potential health effects, water quality, water diversions, impacts to wildlife populations and air quality). The one that is at big concern is protective rights. In the past years these concerns were elevated to the national level by the AFN ( Assembly of First Nations) which represents over 630 First Nations communities and more than 700,000 First Nations people across Canada. The AFN has raised concerns about the impact of the oil sands development. This has proven to have high rates of cancer in the community of Fort Chipewyan. Aboriginal communities rely on the land, water and wildlife for hunting, (fishing, trapping, gathering, harvesting, navigation and ceremonial, recreational and domestic) and are facing both surrounding affect and on themselves affect by the tar sands development, this is occurring in northern Alberta. Regarding water pollution in to the Athabasca watershed and the possible linkage to the health concerns from the oil sand development significant concerns have been raised by the first nations people. pubs.pembina.org/reports/briefingnoteosfntoursep10.pdf
What is the issue environmentally?
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The issue environmentally about with tar sands are that the climate, air and water impacts are caused by the development releases huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere also it pollutes the lands, air and water with dangerous levels of toxic chemicals. If we continue to extract all the known tar sands oil, the Earth’s temperature will rise substantially which would lead to complete climate catastrophe. Tar sands pollute the land, air and water with dangerous levels. Tar sands also affect wildlife and human rights which means that it infringes on the constitutional rights of aboriginal peoples that are living in the Northern Alberta region. Tar sands destroy wildlife habitats, the water that is polluted with toxins like carcinogens render traditional food sources such as fish and on the land caribou because of the polluted air. Looking at before and after pictures of forests, rivers and wetlands they were so beautiful and amazing but have been destroyed by the sizes of Florida. This is reducing the amount of habitat available for a number of sensitive and endangered wildlife species , putting major populations of caribou, songbirds and fish at risk for permanent extirpation. The development of tar sands has hurt Canada’s economic diversity and is threatening its future prosperity. It has turned one of the world’s most respected nations into a petro-state which is puzzling scientists. http://tarsandssolutions.org/tar-sands