No one seems to talk about the oil that was only a couple feet down or how the oil leaked into the rivers or creaks before development.

FACT: only 3% of the oil sands is mined, 97% is low impact drilled!

Myth 2: The oil sands have devastated areas the size of small countries. This claim is generally caused by confusion of what's what. The Athabasca bitumen deposit is indeed huge, about 142 thousand square kilometres, or 60% as big as the UK. But of this area, only a small fraction can be extracted.The area that actually has been mined is 715 square kilometres, about the size of Singapore, and about 10% of this is at some stage of reclamation.

Commentators right about the complaint process, I filed one once, and I might add I have 25 years court experience, made case law in the Alberta Law books, and personally have at least 20 Justices declensions filed you can use foe authorities. I filed a complaint once with Alberta environment, under the DOV agreement 5.5 the Feds are to be involved under the Canadian fisheries act (section 137, 62). Know what they did? They changed the fines from a million dollars a day (Canadian) to Rupee's (1/10 our value. Add insult to injury, you get wrapped up in the police act 2.1 , not to release information harmful to the government, and the Privacy and information act reversed to protect themselves. Not to mention the mis leading of justice by lawyers via ethics and conditions. Never did get an answer, go figure

"moral carelessness" -- great phrase in the video.

Yes you can clean it up. These companies employ the best land reclamation experts on the planet.

For instance, did you know Canada ranks as one of the top producers of drinking water in the world? We may not have that much longer if we continue using the tar sands. What happened after the recession hit was rapid unemployment. A number of industries could have been developed to create jobs for Canadians. It was prime minister Stephen Harper's DECISION to use Alberta's tar sands industry to fill that gap.

Shared, uh, more than one place! Also, only the last two links you provided work anymore, but they are very good ones! I learned more in 11 minutes and 38 seconds about this than I have in the past 56 years of my life. Thank you doesn't really reach far enough, but that's all I've got. Oh, and in the last 16 years I've been online, this is the FIRST time I have subscribed on one short video. :O

some of these regions went up in flames yesterday looking it up Fort McMurray fire

I sincerely hope that you never complain about gas prices going up; or that you own a car, take the bus, or ever taken a plane on vacation; has ever used plastic; live in a home that has been dug underground and not built from wood, glass, steel, or bricks; and that you use electricity from generating it through small home generators. If you do, I congratulate you on being the enviro warrior; otherwise, learn about the world around you. Oil is necessary, its the reason why cities exist and how humans live today. Food is transported to cities by using transportation that use gas otherwise it would spoil or be too expensive. Oil has allowed for globalization, bringing the world closer together through transportation that all uses oil and allows for the world we live in today. If you want to live in isolation where its safe, clean, and environmentally friendly, by all means go for it.

On many occasions oil contamination is accidental, like when you get a pipeline leak, or when you are transporting the oil across a body of water in a ship, but the latter instance mostly happens on the ocean.

Yes it may take a while for the land to return to a normal state but Syncrudes already proved they are cabable of reclaimation. The only part that looks sketchy to me is the tailings storage ponds. I think that before they start filling new ponds they should either be lined with concrete or have many layers of somekind of water proof material lining the bed and the banks to keep the water from leaking.

there just cleaning the sand

this is the engine of the Canadian economy, it keeps me, and many people I know, employed.More ought to be done to find cleaner, cheaper extraction methods, but to stop altogether would be disastrous for Canada, and probably also the world economy.

Camlio, you seem to be one of the few who can actually use rational thought when it comes to issues like this. I commend your attitude of becoming more informed before passing judgement......Thank you.

Also, that is a relative number: it depends on how much you are taking out and exporting at a given time right now, as well as for how long the industry has been around. The Tar Sands have been exploited as early as 2007 and Alberta has been mining for oil for a LOT longer than that.

Time to shut abominable mess down! Canada's is a democracy and we don't want this!

the BC red lines we see still isnt happening and hopefully never will, it has to go through a first nation reserve and they are refusing to let them through

This cannot be shown enough. Same relevance 10 years later.

Thank God we won the debate to not build this pipeline across America. We just had a major earthquake directly under the proposed Keystone pipeline route. The epicenter was in Pawnee Oklahoma and it would have been a disaster of catastrophic proportions. It would have flooded the ironically named 'Keystone' river and most of Tulsa Oklahoma with the dirtiest oil that man has ever made. I knew the earthquake would happen just not so soon. Absolutely amazing! We not only saved the environment on a major scale but 1,000's of jobs for railroad workers, truck drivers, depot workers, mechanics, restaurant/cafe workers, road workers, & part suppliers. All people with common sense, please keep saying not to keystone pipeline!

Somewhere along the line, Corporations Married Government. Until they are divorced, by law.... Constitutional.... This insanity will continue.

I am proud of the dirty oil. I was working in a call center in Toronto with 13 dollar per hour wage. I moved to Alberta and within 2 years I am buying a BMW 3 series. Please burn the environment and bring jobs to Alberta cause rest of Canada sucks. Its extremely hard to get a professional job in rest of Canada. Without oil Canada would become poor.

The sound seems to be corrupted on this and other Tar Sands or Pipeline films and I have been unable to post or share any films about this subject on Facebook. Why is that?

Love the really old footage.

Make Northern Alberta a LOTR theme park!!! Come, visit Mordor! All they 'll have to do is build a big tower with a huge eye on it and make some orc and goblin costumes for the workers.

get rid of Saudi oil

Also, First Nations communitis living around Lake Athabasca have never had problems with cancer, and the fish there have never had tumours the size of golf balls, before mining operations began in the Tar Sands.

im 22... in Alberta... wanna know what the oil industry has done for me? i own 2 house,a new vehicle, quad, and im saving for retirement. This video is in accurate. the oil industry is here to stay like it or not. so take advantage of it!

How is that for a humongous irony? The dirtiness of the oil sands has caused a rise in emissions and therefore contributed to global warming in the turn contributing to the weather that fueled the massive fire that destroyed Fort McMurray

The Pyramids and the Great Wall didn't destroy the environment while being built.

... awesome .... thanks for the share

As per the second question, compare a large two-floor house or a bungalow to a tiny shabby apartment. You might not like the apartment, but you have somewhere to sleep. Compare a three-course banquet with a chunk of bread or a bowl of rice. You might not like bread or rice, but you would not go hungry. So in determining the bare necessities for survival, everything else is just there to make you happy.

Even if you disagree with this documentary you cannot disagree or discard the fact that we are causing environmental damage to our planet on a massive scale. We need to be going forward towards green energy not backwards towards a dirty conventional form...

sad, truly sad. we've become so addicted and wasteful of energy that we're willing to sacrifice the health and wellbeing of our future generations.

well spoken Caper!

Kiddo you have a long way to go. I have been in this business for 25 years and I know exactly what is going on here.

We are all dead we just don't know it yet.

if you've got any business experience at all and your not exactly looking for blue collar work but still interested in money, check out Edmonton, Alberta. fastest growing city in Canada and the most economic growth potential of any Canadian city. any trade, any business degree, we're looking for you.

so glad you have a job in our economy. So glad you can provide for your family at times like these. The community just south of the tar sands are suffering from all forms of cancer. Not to mention the death of the environment, wildlife, water and air. Your argument would be better served if the canadian resources weren't being shipped off to other countries and used at home. How is your health, being exposed to all those chemicals, take care my fren.

The tar sands cover an area the size of Scotland. That is big enough. I don't believe anyone said anything about strip-mining or logging, but large portions of the environment are still being devastated. I don't think we will now the full extent of the damage done to the surrounding environment because of the provincial - and now federal - government's control over information regarding the tar sands.

It's a shame that the actual truth isn't shown in this video. May untruths are evident in this video.

This is horrible, I can't... I can't chose the words to describe people like this! I feel sick! But... the worst part.... the worst of all..... I can't do a thing about it :(

The cost of installing SOLAR ROOFTOPS and TESLA WALL MOUNT BATTERY is the same amount that the Canadian Government is collecting from the TARSANDS in taxes.

Yah i know. The use of hemp has been around for years, its slowly coming back, being used in very few consumer products. petro chemicals are used today for the majority of products.

Cue petro-company trolls & paid shills ...

What a very deep pile of bloated lies.

Lets also talk boreal forest. using techniques such as SAGD they are extracting oil from under the forest without strip mining it. (they also reclaim land as well when they are done). Its also hard NOT to log areas of the Boreal forest for ANY industry, since it covers 60% of canadas land mass. The Oillsands project is roughly 400km by 400km. Its actually smaller than the Roscoe Wind Farm in Texas. The wind farm is cleaner. but the land its on is still rendered otherwise useless.

What is the cost and return on investment for building a water purification plant?

Canada's Oilsands are NOT the dirtiest oil on the planet, they are EQUAL in carbon content to oil from California and Venezuela. The USA already is consuming 3,000,000 barrels of day from the Canadian Oilsands. This is not a future prediction, this is a current fact. There is no disaster, but pipelines ARE safer than rail and anti pipeline eco fronts are stalling pipelines and ARE resulting in pipeline delays that result in old pipelines being used longer than they should be used resulting in leaks and damaged ecosystems, as well pipeline delays cause rail over dependence, causing rail accidents and deaths. So the mantra of the modern eco movement causes increased enviromental damage and actually is killing people. Forests are NOT cut all at once, the Oilsands operations are rotated through the region in increments, the mine is established and digs DOWN for 25 years, not outwards. Then it is reclaimed and reforested. We have wildlife reserves, herds of buffalo... and how is the in-situ more damaging, it allow wildlife to inter mingle, we are a small population in a huge Country... that is the reason why we emit a larger amount of carbon per person per square km... so what? Fort Chip cancer rates are proven to NOT be any different. The natural run off from the Natural Oilsands is occuring NATURALLY in the watershed! The secret is dont drink the Natural runoff in the Oilsands area!!! The FAKE crying at 9:38 AND 15:00 is turned on and off so quick... i have to remind you to drink Treated Water in the entire Oilsands watershed, because Water Naturally flows through the Oilsands deposits. The people living in this area need to drink treated water. The carbon is NOT released all at once, it is developed yearly in small increments over 250 years... why is he not protesting the huge Carbon sink in the Middle East? Why is he only hurting responsible jobs in North America?

Thank you President Obama for the XL veto!!!!

I hear you, brother, and feel the same way. And I apologize for drowning out your comment during our comment-war last night. Cheers.

Italian physicist and inventor Andrea Rossi has conducted a public demonstration of his "cold fusion" machine, the E-Cat, at the University of Bologna, showing that a small amount of input energy drives an unexplained reaction between atoms of hydrogen and nickel that leads to a large outpouring of energy, more than 10 times what was put in. Unlike in nuclear fission, the reaction doesn't give off dangerous radiation.

As a British Columbian all I have to say that if oil is so important to Albertans than you can ship it through your province, but it is NOT coming through ours. Thank you.

keep on digging up the oil......we need it!!! Oh yes, and the world is going to blow up for sure according to these ding dongs!!!

Sorry, my numbers were wrong. In 2010, 51 per cent of the water used by in situ oil sands was saline water from deep underground zones, which is not suitable for human or agricultural use. By 2020, the in situ oil sands industry is forecast to produce roughly 40 per cent of Canada’s total crude oil (more than 1.6 million barrels of oil per day) but will require less than 0.5 per cent of Alberta’s current water allocation

The problem right now is that we've got a prime minister - and probably a good percentage of his administration - from Alberta who will say each province needs to be fiscally independent, and yet he can bring in as many human and non-human resources from ACROSS THE COUNTRY to help him work on his province's own projects, and as long as he continues to tell all other Canadians they NEED his province's oil, he's also got their money to help with the funding.

Oil provides so many jobs to Alberta so I don't know why you guys are complaining

I call bs. Those pictures were from the US's offshore oil spills. those exact birds. The energy is 1 million cars, but how much is one million cars really? and those arent greenhouse gases, that is water vapor from heating drill motors. Its called dirty oil for the sole reason that it needs to be refined. Those tailings ponds are nothing more than mud and rock shards, which cant hurt anyone unless you go swimming in it.And all the people saying the CEO's should burn should burn for being pissed after seeing one video and not doing any actual research. The flames were due to flaring, which is excess methane from the earth's crust, so it is burned because methane is 20x more potent of a greenhouse gas than CO2.This is one biased video, and is outdated, as the Liberal government isn't in power anymore. they don't even have much of a say because of a majority Conservative government.

I'll let other people who have been there, too, tell me about it. There are tar sands whistleblowers scattered all over KZfaq. What, are they wrong, too? What a loyal and true company man you are ;)

It's awesome. Continental Resources has just finalized acquisition of the Bakken. (Dec 23 or so).

With the current forest fire destroying Fort McMurray (the largest city in the region), you may want to tone down the rhetoric and vitriol. You can blame your coal fired electricity plants in Kentucky more for this than our oil production. It takes 2.5 barrels of water per barrel of oil sands oil (that is 18% less than stated). With full production, now almost 90% of water is being recycled, so new water use has fallen dramatically. But going back to your blaming it on the people of Alberta, each time you use your electricity in Tennessee, each time you take a plane, every time you buy a cheap product from China (the largest coal consumer in history), you contributed to that fire. You contribute 55% more methane in the environment than the oil sands. China contributes 600% more. Its easier to blame others for your problems than to fix your contribution to climate change. And while close to 80,000 people have fled their city, you could show some fucking compassion.

The number I got from another source was 400 years of oil at the tar sands. Those seem like awfully subjective numbers coming from an industry that depends on convincing its consumers there is nothing wrong with taking as much as you want. So it comes down to taking and selling as much as you can as quickly as you can, thereby becoming richer all at once, verses stretching that resource out as much as you can and making it last as long as you can, thereby ensuring the money will always be there.

Thanks.

It's crazy to think industry cannot or should not be heavily regulated and monitored. It'll result in reduced profits for those in the top and the investor but if there's no choice, they'll still be in business. Industry is not self-regulating; the only reason to be in business is to make money. How it's done isn't a concern as long as business makes money. the more the better.

4) Fossil fuels are not as reliable because they are limited, and that is what makes them expensive. With renewable energy, You don't run a vehicle and drive it while it is capturing solar energy, the way they tried to do in the early 1990's. You capture and store the energy FIRST, then use it as electricity once you have enough stored up. The batteries used to power the device will run on stored energy initially, but then it operates on feedback energy that has been captured by the device.

When the first steam locomotive was made, people said going over 15 iles per hour would kill you. Same thing here, we need the oil for life and everything else is opinional.

"Solar energy" actually applies to a broad range of solar energy-capturing strategies, the simplest being greenhouse windows which can - if used at a certain angle - can use sunlight to create a greenhouse effect.

not so sure if wind or solar is running my computer. i'd love to make it law that we know where it comes from and that clean energy is used. j

Alberta only has 25 years worth of natural gas left to power Tar Sands operations. After that they intend to use nuclear power. A uranium mine is being planned 19 km from Fort Chip.

The oil in this area is at the surface already. This area of Canada where the oil is naturally leaking into rivers and lakes should be cleaned up, the same as any other oil spill on earth should be cleaned up. Look to the archive photos if you want to see for yourself.

ya im sorry about that i wish i could remember them. ill try to track them down for u

How much you wanna bet that it wasn't there before? But as for the reclaimed land issue, I can't directly deny it because I haven't been there before personally. All I can do is point you to those who have.

I haven't seen any proof of these refillings you are talking about. Can you provide examples?

I agree that greenhouse is a good use for solar energy, but I was referring more to the solar power generation usage. Solar power is one of the least efficient means of alternate energy for electricity production because of the massive amounts of mining and electricity needed for their manufacture. They produce significant GHG indirectly through manufacturing processes. They also take up large amounts of landmass, for a relatively small return.

This has very good perspectives and I believe people in power should support them

Isn't there a way to filter the tails ponds?

The role of oil in Canada's economy was purely Stephen Harper's idea, even before the recession began. Alberta was always into mining for oil, and Harper is from Alberta. So one of the first things he does when he gets elected is invest in his province's primary energy industry. It was his decision to replace many of Canada's other exports and make it rely so much on oil, even when most of the rest of the country didn't need it.

I am a worker in the resource sector of western Canada, I agree that the environment cost of the resouce sector in all of western canada including all mining, forestry are key to the economy in western Canada is perhaps too high. This is due to demand the eco-alternatives are not viable on the scale to replace these resources. Take a real look at what is derived from natural resourses around you can you really shut the world off.

Lake Athabasca isn't what produces the bitumen, though. In its natural state, bitumen exists in semi-solid form underground, which means there is no way it can get into the water of the Athabasca unless it's been melted beforehand through artificial methods and then released into the lake. What you see flowing into the lake is the remaining bitumen that cannot be obtained from the water once it has been used in the distillation process for refining the bitumen.

Monty, the people living downstream live on a lake with HUGE uranium deposits bordering it. Ever think that may have something to do with it? Or maybe the fact that several of the rivers feeding that lake cut right through the oil sands deposits naturally, carrying bitumen into the lake they live on? With no human input of any kind I might add.

Desalination through distillation does not remove all salt from sea water. You're still left with some salt in the water, just not a dangerous amount. Other methods of desalination can remove more salt but the only method that can remove it on a micro-scale is a relatively new technique invented in the University Of Texas in Austin, Texas. Regardless, if you tried any of these other techniques on oil-polluted water, you'd probably get an explosion since they involve electricity.

Well said !!!

Can somone help answer the questions to my worksheet

This is just depressing, shame on you federal government! :(

I'm not from Canada, but are you saying those toxic lakes don't exist or not actually that harmful?

You hit the nail on the head ! We as consumers can do something else. But that is not going to happen fast. It will take years,decades to change that thought. Number 1 is vehicles. Fuel use is the biggest oil product of all. Anti oil advocates claim oil as evil but none of them drive a Prius. All these people want change in a greener direction but want that change to come 100% from a Government stand point for they are either 2 selfish or 2 ignorant or both to take effects them selfs !

Innovation doesn't require time, it requires necessity. Knowledge of the subject matter would help, too, but even that isn't completely necessary as long as you know what you are trying to do.

Im not a supporter of this oil extraction, but your comment made me chuckle. Yes, let America apologize for shoveling billions of dollars into Canadas economy. Im sure they hated that part.

I'm not even sure if "ad hominem" really applies, but then you were the one who called it that. I didn't. I prefer to call it "entrapment" and I think it is very useful because it brings arguments to new levels. In effect, it progresses the argument. Particularly when you cannot see the rationality in the other person's point. So it also allows one to gain perspective.

Indigenous peoples were, and still are, the first to get affected negatively by the pollutants and carcinogens released from mining operations, tailings (ponds), and (most recently) frack drilling. Although it's understandable and expected for finger pointing, now is not the time for counter responsiveness or defensive tactics. It's time to listen, to take action, and to take responsibility for past actions so that we can work together before times runs out for all of us!

I wonder why they don't take harper for a shore lunch on this river.

As per energy production, would it surprise you to learn that some people have switched to solar panels for all of their energy needs and are quite comfortable with it? And I am not talking about pre-industrial farmhouses with no eectricity, either. You can power your lights, your cooking appliances, your television, even your computer with solar energy. In fact, this one guy I heard about is even selling surplus energy back to Ontario's Hydro One branch of Hydro Quebec.

3) Nothing is cheaper than sunlight, or wind. It's free. The technology isn't free, but it is a one-time payment. Compare the price of a solar panel to a gallon of oil. For as many gallons as it would take to equal the price of a solar panel, imagine those gallons being the only gallons of oil you would ever need. That is a LOT cheaper than continuing to buy oil.

And, yeah, I know people in Alberta are generally told that oil is all good and there is nothing bad about it, but the rest of us in Canada - and probably the U.S.A. too, by now - see it differently. We see a substance that can pollute aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems alike, that can be tricky to transport, that involves ravaging surrounding environments in order to obtain, and that can contribute rather heavily to global warming.

5) Solar panels do not leak toxic chemicals. They are made of toxic chemicals. There is a difference; primarily, if you do not BUY them or USE them, then they are thrown away. THEN they become toxic. But it is really the same deal as is with computers and TV sets. We've got to find ways to clean that up, too, so it is just a matter of time before we figure out how to recycle the solar panels we currently use. Or we could invent other types of solar panels/solar energy-collecting technology.

"In any system of energy, Control is what consumes energy the most. No energy store holds enough energy to extract an amount of energy equal to the total energy it stores. No system of energy can deliver sum useful energy in excess of the total energy put into constructing it. This universal truth applies to all systems. Energy, like time, flows from past to future" (2017).

In any case, it isn't the free market that is protecting against discrimination. It is the culture of the society in question at that given time that helps to prevent it. Change the culture, and you change the employment rate.

do you not understand the difference between tar sands and natural oil mines?

ed paul the history of the steam engine stretches back as far as the 1st century AD; the first recorded rudimentary steam engine being the aeolipile described by Hero of Alexandria.

...find a way to actually remove salt from sea water instead of adding stuff to desalinate it. I am curious about the websites you mentioned so if you can find them then I would certainly read them.