Protecting Wildlife in the Oil Sands

Late Monday, October 25th, birds landed throughout the oil sands region on parking lots, roadways and tailings ponds.  Freezing rain was falling that night and it appears this might have caused the birds to land although deterrent systems were operational across the region at the time. As regulators and industry investigate what happened, there is no question this is an unfortunate occurrence. It has again brought to the forefront the issue of wildlife protection in the oil sands.

The goal of all oil sands operators is to protect wildlife from any harm – the bird deterrent systems in place are effective, and the technology and techniques have improved over time.

Operators are aware that residual bitumen on settling basins, also known as tailings ponds, can represent a risk to waterfowl. They have been using an array of technologies, including radar systems, sound cannons, industrial alarms, sirens, hunting sounds and even an audio program that sends bird calls mimicking birds in distress, to try and prevent waterfowl from landing on the tailings. While this technology is the best that is currently available, like other aspects of oil sands performance, continued technological improvement is the key to improved performance. The industry is, for example, following closely the work of Professor Colleen Cassady St. Clair at the University of Alberta, who is currently researching bird migration and the effectiveness of bird landing deterrents.

While reducing risk to wildlife through deterrent systems is one focus of the industry, we are also working diligently towards minimizing fluid tailings. For example, Suncor has recently introduced its TRO (Tailings Reduction Operation) which is expected to greatly improve tailings management going forward and will be used to reduce existing tailings inventory at Suncor’s operations. In addition, Suncor also recently completed the reclamation of the first oil sands tailings pond. In late August, Shell announced new technology aimed at speeding up the process of drying up tailings. Similarly, Syncrude has announced the use of centrifugation of tailings and conducted a commercial pilot this fall. All these technologies are focused on speeding up the settling of tailings so the land can be reclaimed more quickly.

All oil sands mining operators have approved plans and schedules for accelerated tailings reclamation under the ERCB’s Directive 74, and companies have committed billions of dollars to the execution of those plans.

In addition to commitment to reducing tailings, industry is accountable to detailed wildlife protection regulations and regular inspections from Alberta Environment and Alberta Fish & Wildlife.

As we hope you can see, the industry is committed to the preservation of wildlife and the minimization of our environmental footprint. If you are interested in more information, please visit our website at www.oilsandsdevelopers.ca.

Did you know...

Canada’s oil reserves are second in the world behind Saudi Arabia

Of 179 billion barrels of Canada’s oil reserves, the oil sands represent 97 per cent

For each permanent oil sands-related job, nine additional direct, indirect and induced jobs are created in Canada.

Currently 240,000 jobs in Canada are directly or indirectly linked to the oil sands.

Between 2000 and 2020, oil sands development has the potential to generate at least $123 billion in royalty and tax revenues for Canada’s federal and provincial governments.

The oil sands currently account for only 4.6 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions. This is less than 0.1 per cent of total global emissions.

Alberta was the first jurisdiction in North America to legislate industrial greenhouse gas emission reductions.

Producers have made great strides in reducing the amount of emissions per barrel of bitumen extracted from the oil sands. The equivalent of 2.6 million tonnes of reductions have been made – the same as taking more than 550,000 cars off the road.

The province of Alberta has committed $4 billion toward climate change initiatives, including $2 billion for public transit and $2 billion for carbon capture and storage (CCS). This is the largest CCS investment in the world.

Air quality around oil sands operations is better than all North American cities reviewed by the Alberta Clean Air Strategic Alliance.

Alberta air quality standards are the most stringent in Canada.

Air quality in Fort McMurray is monitored around the clock. Results are available at the WBEA site.

Air quality has been extensively modeled and demonstrated to remain within Alberta’s strict air quality guidelines even with all projected oil sands development in place.

Oil sands are located below the surface of 140,200 square kilometres of land, 4.5 per cent of Canada’s total boreal forest.

Mineable oil sands only exist under 0.1 per cent of Canada’s total boreal forest.

While disturbance is occurring daily, in more than 40 years oil sands mining has disturbed about one hundredth of one per cent of the Canadian boreal forest – some 500 square kilometres.

Since 2001, coordinated efforts between government and industry through Integrated Landscape Management (ILM) activities have reduced land surface disturbance in the region by 20 per cent.

As required by law, and included in all project approvals, reclamation work is ongoing and continuous in the oil sands. All lands disturbed by oil sands will be reclaimed.

Mining is only an option for oil sands that sit less than 75 metres under the surface.

More than 80 per cent of the oil sands will be developed using in-situ technologies.

In-situ projects resemble conventional oil development and do not require tailings ponds, or mine pits.

In-situ operations create linear disturbance of the surface for wellheads. But new technology and processes, including low-impact seismic and directional drilling, are reducing that footprint.

In Alberta, Alberta Environment regulates oil and gas industry water use under the Water Act. Oil and gas companies are subject to the same conditions for use as any other licensed water user in Alberta.

Currently, the oil sands industry draws less than half the water allocation allowed by Alberta Environment from the Athabasca River.

Water allocations are strictly controlled during low flow periods.

More than 80 per cent of water drawn by industry from the Athabasca is recycled.

Non-potable water which is unsuitable for drinking, livestock or irrigation use is used wherever possible for in-situ production.

Alberta Environment prohibits the release of any water to the Athabasca River that does not meet water quality requirements.

RAMP, a multi-stakeholder body, conducts annual monitoring of the river’s fish species, fish habitat and water quality. The monitoring has not detected significant changes to the Athabasca River. www.ramp-alberta.org

Bitumen from exposed oil sands along the river banks has seeped naturally into the Athabasca River as it cut its way through the landscape.

Tailings contain the water, residual bitumen, sand and clay that is left over when the bitumen is separated from the sand.

In the ponds, the solids separate from the water so the water may be recycled into the process again. Of the total water used by oil sands mines, 80 per cent is recycled.

During and after mining, the tailings ponds are reclaimed. No tailings water is released to the Athabasca River or any other watercourse.

The first tailings ponds will be reclaimed in 2010.

80 per cent of the oil sands resource will be developed using in-situ technology which does not require tailings ponds.

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