Land

Fact: Mining requires land disturbance.

  • Surveys from early 2009 indicate that approximately 602 square kilometres of land, an area about two-thirds the size of Edmonton, have been disturbed by oil sands mining in the region.  This area currently provides 50 per cent of Canada’s crude oil requirements.
  • Oil sands operations are required to reclaim the land they disturb.

Fact: Reclamation takes many years.

  • The reclamation process involves monitoring, seeding, fertilizing, tree planting, seed collecting, topsoil salvaging and replacing.  It also involves significant landform creation and contouring.
  • Significant research has been conducted and continues in the oil sands region, producing notable advancements in land reclamation technology. Research is being conducted in such diverse fields as landform creation, nutrient flows, soil reconstruction, wetland construction, re-establishment of peat and fen vegetation and the propagation of native tree and shrub species.
  • Reclamation is progressive. As land becomes available, it is reclaimed, but much of the land is still in active use to support operations.
  • It takes time to reclaim land in the boreal forest.  For example, it can take some 80 years for a conifer tree to grow to maturity in the oil sands region. 

Fact: Regulations ensure land will eventually be reclaimed.

  • Industry is required by law to file a Conservation and Reclamation Plan as part of its initial application to develop an oil sands project.  It must update the plan as its development proceeds. 
  • The Conservation and Reclamation Plan must be formally re-approved every 10 years.
  • The Conservation and Reclamation Plan must detail the scope and timing of all surface disturbances and resulting reclamation activities throughout the life of the project through to the completion of the final reclaimed landscape.
  • Industry is required to post financial security equivalent to the cost of reclamation to ensure all land is reclaimed irrespective of the project’s economic performance.

Fact: Land has been reclaimed and will continue to be reclaimed.

  • Reclamation activities have been underway for decades.
  • In March 2008, Alberta issued its first-ever oil sands land reclamation certificate.
  • A reclamation certificate can only be issued once vegetation is mature enough to demonstrate long-term productivity. 
  • Operators may be reluctant to apply for certification if the reclaimed land is adjacent to ongoing industrial activity for reasons of safety and security. Once land is certified, it becomes open to public access.
  • About 67 square kilometres, an area twice the size of Fort McMurray, is being reclaimed.

Fact: Tailings ponds must meet strict environmental standards.

  • All tailings ponds are constructed with groundwater monitoring wells and seepage control facilities surrounding their perimeters and are closely monitored for seepage and impact to groundwater.
  • Interceptor ditches are constructed around tailings ponds to prevent seepage from entering water systems or waterways and any collected water is returned to the tailings pond.
  • Conservation and Reclamation Plans must define how and when tailings ponds will ultimately be reclaimed.
  • Tailings ponds and other structures on oil sands operations must comply with Canadian Dam Safety Regulations to ensure the integrity of the containment structures.

Fact: Tailings ponds are being reclaimed and technology related to tailings management is improving.

  • Consolidated tailings technology was developed as a step change process in managing mature fine tailings in the industry.
  • The first tailings pond will be reclaimed to a solid surface and ready for replanting by 2010.
  • New technologies that could speed the process of settling and reclaiming ponds are currently being investigated.
  • The oil sands industry is actively researching drier tailings technologies that would allow future oil sands plants to have smaller tailings pond areas.
  • In-situ oil sands developments do not generate tailings.

Fact: Low-impact seismic testing and exploration drilling has reduced land disturbance.

  • Switching to low-impact seismic testing and exploration drilling has led to a 60 per cent smaller footprint by the exploration industry resulting in less timber loss and less impact on wildlife habitat.
  • Unlike the straight cut lines of the past, low-impact seismic lines and core-hole access routes are routed around natural features and habitats such as trees, animal dens or creeks.
  • At an average width of about three metres, today’s low-impact seismic lines and exploration access routes are much narrower than the up-to-eight-metre lines of the past.
  • Many newer seismic lines are as narrow as 1.75 to 2.5 metres.
  • Narrow, meandering seismic lines currently employed, preserve habitats by reducing predator sightlines and human access.
  • The oil sands, exploration and forestry industries work together to coordinate access routes to minimize land disturbance.

Facts sourced by Oil Sands Developers Group (Summer 2010).

Sources for all facts available upon request.

 

Environment

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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