Subscribe to Receive the Daily Report

Tuesday, July 30th, 2013

Alberta Tar Sands Have Been Leaking for Nine Weeks with No Signs of Stopping

Author:     MORGANA MATUS
Source:     inhabitat
Publication Date:     7/24/2013
 Link: Alberta Tar Sands Have Been Leaking for Nine Weeks with No Signs of Stopping
Stephan:   The corporate media pays no attention, you almost never see a mention of what is happening, and the American government doesn't want you to know about it. But here is the reality of the Alberta Tar Sands. This is a vile project, ill-conceived, and with great power to destroy the environment. Click through to see the pictures of what this project is doing to the environment.

In Cold Lake, Alberta an environmental disaster is unfolding. The Primrose bitumen emulsion site has been seeping tar over 30 acres of swampy forest for the past nine weeks. Already, the viscous substance has contaminated a large swath of vegetation and killed dozens of animals. About 26,000 barrels of tar have been removed from the area. An anonymous government scientist told the Star that the leak was not going away, that no one understood the causes of the problem, and do not have any effective remediation measures in place. A spokesperson for the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER), which oversees the extraction sites, is currently working with owner Canadian Natural Resources Ltd to begin to clean up the mess.

bitumen, tar, extraction, global warming

The Primrose site extracts 100,000 barrels of bitumen out of the ground each day through a process known as cyclic steam stimulation (CSS). The method injects millions of gallons of pressurized steam hundreds of feet down into the earth where it loosens the bitumen enough for it to be pumped to the surface. Eighty percent of all bitumen that can be extracted can only be removed by steam, and although it has been described as a more environmentally friendly […]

Read the Full Article