Saturday, February 28, 2009

Alberta's Dirty Oil

I just finished reading Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent by Andrew Nikiforuk. It is a short book with some powerful messages, especially to people living in Alberta under the downstream of the tar sands in Fort Mac.

1) Less consumption makes for less of a need for oil. To me, this was the bottom line.
2) Alberta's "oil" is indeed dirty - it is actually bitumen, a sludgy substance.
3) It takes three barrels of water to make one barrel of sludge, I mean, oil.
4) The "boom" is causing drug use, prostitution, and all kinds of other social problems in Fort Mac.
5) The environmental and health consequences of the tar sands are horrific.

Written in an easy to follow style, this is an important book for Albertans to read.

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