An elder at a public consultation meeting, quoted in an environment impact assessment. Environmental impacts of oil sands development in alberta. As with the extraction and use of any fossil fuel, negative environmental effects arise as a result of the extraction, upgrading, and processing of bitumen from the oil sands. Federal court sends the alberta kearl oil sands project. Simply defined, the eia process helps identify the possible environmental effects of a proposed activity and. It is further designed to help improve understanding of the contribution that eia can make towards sustainable development planning in tanzania. Oil sands, tar sands, crude bitumen, or more technically bituminous sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. In 1981, the us agency for international development usaid revised the national environmental policy act nepa. The recent environmental assessment ea conducted for imperial oils kearl oil sands project came to the conclusion that the proposed project, forecast to release 0. The environmental impact assessment eia process is an interdisciplinary and multistep procedure to ensure that environmental considerations are included in decisions regarding projects that may impact the environment. The extraction and refining of oil sands produces 3070% more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional oil production, according to estimates by alex farrell and adam brandt published in the october 2007 issue of climatic change. Per barrel greenhouse gas ghg emissions have decreased. Heres a report acknowledging the huge environmental impact, jack laytons concerns about toxic lakes and overuse of fresh water, and ed stelmach alberta premier stating a conservative government was essential to investors in oil sands.
Environmental impact assessment eia as a tool to integrate environmental concerns and considerations into the decisionmaking processes of governments at all levels has become more and more widespread throughout the world. The canadian government instated a strong environmental assessment process, which involves all social groups affected and interested and evaluates the level of uncertainties implied by a project before approval is granted. The carbon intensity of oil sands development poses other environmental health questions. Environmental assessment iea, ecosystem assessment ea and environmental valuation assessments. Impacts of oil sands contaminants on downstream residents. Kearl lake oil sands mine environmental impact assessment. In this paper we present the results of a preliminary cba of the kearl oil sands mine. Through its canmetenergy laboratories, natural resources canada is committed to supporting the development of technological solutions to help drive improved environmental performance in the oil sands.
Environmental impact assessment eia can be defined as the systematic examination of unintended consequences of a development project or program, with the view to reduce or mitigate negative impacts and maximize on positive ones eeaa 1996. A trapper quoted in an environmental impact assessment. Assessing greenhouse gas emissions in the oil sands western ojs. Oil production from oil sands is of growing importance to the global energy mix the environmental impacts of this production remain poorly understood we. The precautionary principle has evolved over the last couple of decades as a tool to help. Kearl oil sands project environmental impact assessment imperial.
It contains information regarding the project, the likely significant effect of the project, the baseline scenario, the proposed alternatives, the features and measures to mitigate. Pdf quantifying the impacts of oil sands development on. Eia reports eias insitu sagd bitumen environmental impact analysis environmental impact assessment oil sands. Imperial adopted a common regional study area rsa to assess. Oil sands are either loose sands or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and water, soaked with a dense and extremely viscous form of petroleum technically referred to as bitumen. It is important to note that the project area is benign from a geological perspective ith no known history of flooding, tornadoes, earthquakes or other climatic nor january 2011 6. Cautionary tale about the kearl oil sands decision jstor.
C describe the potential environmental impacts arising from the modified swss at. The onshore field is owned by imperial oil and exxonmobil. Here are 7 key facts about the oil sands and the environment. Net economic and environmental benefits of an oil sands mine by. David dougherty, member of the canadian association for the club of rome, writes. The supreme court of canada has granted intervenor status to duncans first nation dfn and horse lake first nation hlfn, in a case that may have major legal implications for the development of oil sands, pipelines, oil sands infrastructure projects and other major projects. Environmental and health impacts of canadas oil sands industry. Project location map, aspen project, imperial oil resources ventures limited, imperial oil, aspen project location map, environmental impact assessment, eia created date. It is designed to accompany a 1 or 2 day intensive introductory training course on eia. Canadian environmental assessment agency 160 elgin street, 22nd floor place bell canada ottawa, ontario k1a 0h3. Application for an oil sands mine and bitumen processing facility kearl oil sands project decision 20070 errata fort mcmurray area applications no. Anthropogenic landscape disturbances, including industrial development, can have significant impacts on wildlife populations. Environmental assessments for the proposed kearl development, a similar approach will be followed to address environmental aspects.
Eia report the environmental impact assessment report is the document prepared by the developer that presents the output of the assessment. This was the first attempt to introduce eia systems in the field of. The tar sands issue, from a wide boundary perspective isnt really about whether we can affordably in energy or environmental terms get 35 million barrels per day of oil, but that we have used up the lions share of the easily available liquid hydrocarbons, and the juice that grew global economy to this scale and. For example, this is how the canadian environmental assessment agency put it in. This work is an important part of the federal environmental assessment process. Using the latest available technology, imperial oil expects to extract 169 billion barrels of bitumen from the project. Quantifying the impacts of oil sands development on wildlife. Joslyn north mine project traditional ecological knowledge and land use report.
Reclamation the primary form of mitigation proposed for terrestrial impacts in the oil sands is reclamation, yet oil sands reclamation performance has been poor to date. Kearl oil sands project environmental impact assessment. Throughout the wide range of environmental assessment processes available, all recognise that policy responses are needed for effective environmental management andor sustainable use of the environment. Oil sands, environmental assessment, climate change. Volume 2 environmental impact assessment open government. Introduction course on environmental impact assessment in. Kearl kearl oil sands project project description november 2003. The environmental impact of the oil sands is an issue that has been extremely divisive. The congressional research services march 20 report on the lifecycle assessment of canadian oil sands. A team of experts with oil sands environmental experience has been doing baseline studies data collection to understand the environmental conditions surrounding the development area. Environmental impact assessment and associated applications pertaining to the proposed imperial oil resources ventures limited aspen project. Differing views of uncertainty in environmental controversies. The worlds second largest country by area, canada is. The proposal involves an oil sands mining and bitumen extraction facility with production capacity of 300,000 barrels per day.
Environmental assessment imperial oil resources ventures. On march 5, 2008, the federal court rendered its decision respecting the environmental impact assessment eia of the kearl oil sands project kearl project of imperial oil resources ventures. Kearl is one of canadas highest quality oil sands deposits and represents the next generation of oil sands mining. The oil sands environmental coalition raised issues regarding. Eastgate engineering, city enterprise centre, waterford business park, cork road, waterford, ireland tel. B describe syncrudes history in albertas oil sands industry, with specific reference to. The dramatic upsurge in regional oil and gas production in recent years is expected to. This environmental impact assessment and associated baseline reports. Environmental consequences of oil production from oil sands. Quantifying the impacts of oil sands development on. Net economic and environmental benefits of an oil sands mine. Environmental social impact assessment during site preparation, construction activities may impact the land. Environmental and health impacts of canadas oil sands. Technology section 4 is a key element of current activity in the oil sands, making recovery of bitumen.
Pdf quantifying the impacts of oil sands development on wildlife. Oil sands companies are teaming up to try and reduce their environmental impact. In canada, federal, territorial, and provincial laws require major industrial development projects to submit detailed environmental impact assessments eia reports as part of the project application process. Environmental assessment shell canada limited jackpine. The imperial oil resources ventures limited tailings management plan for the kearl oil sands mine osca application no. Federal ea canadian environmental assessment act, 2012 provincial ea british columbia environmental assessment act the two become harmonized into a. To me the environmental, energy, economic trifecta is an extremely tangled web. Weve developed new approaches that enhance environmental performance and reduce cost. As described in the student material this has become a major issue and could have significant impact on the plans for oil sands development.
I will study this assessment process in the particular case of the kearl oil sands kos project whose environmental assessment. Since development began around 40 years ago, 84,000 square kilometres of land underlain with oil sands deposits has been leased in alberta, accounting for about 60% of the total resource area. The kearl oil sands project is a potential oilsands mining, pipeline and upgrading project in alberta. Environmental impact assessment eia course curriculum for tertiary level institutions in pakistan national impact assessment programme niap pakistan thomas b fischer phd fiema and obaidullah nadeem phd fipp september 20. Chapter 2assessing cumulative environmental effects of. Eia environmental impact assessment epea environment protection and enhancement act. Cautionary tale about the kearl oil sands decision mcgill university. By its revision, environmental impact assessment eia became a mandate to development assistance project. This handbook provides an introduction to environmental impact assessment eia and its potential role in tanzania. Oil sands emissions in a global and canadian context. For example, our use of paraffinic froth treatment technology and the integration of energy. Imperial oil kearl shell albian sands jackpine 1 syncrude aurora north shell albian sands muskeg river. Development of the oil sands in northern alberta has become an issue of growing public interest in recent year, with highly polarized views being presented by different stakeholders, including first nations, environmentalists, industries and governments, about the merits of oils sands development in relation to its environmental and health impacts. However, since that time, changes have occurred, and those terms of reference can no longer be used.
An assessment of the environmental implications of oil and. Eia is now implemented in the legal systems of most countries, including norway. An assessment of the environmental implications of oil and gas production. We quantified the wholesale transformation of the boreal landscape by openpit oil sands mining in alberta, canada to evaluate its effect on carbon storage and sequestration. Oil sands mining and reclamation cause massive loss of. Kearl lake mcclellend lake winter road a t h a b as c a r i v e r firebagri v e r fort mckay. Pdf anthropogenic landscape disturbances, including industrial.
Kearl lake oil sands, alberta, canada eastgate engineering. Instead, proponents use economic impact analysis eia to assess economic impacts. Environmental impacts of oil sands energy education. Dkfn does not allege that there are any deficiencies or errors in imperials environmental impact assessment eia.
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