Few Canadians know that Canada is home to one of the world's largest dams and it is built to hold toxic waste from just one tar sands operation in northern Alberta. Everything about the tar sands happens on a massive scale. The enormous toxics problems go hand-in-hand with massive global warming pollution and the impending destruction of a boreal forest the size of Florida. Because of sheer scale, all Canadians are impacted by the tar sands, no matter where they live. This is Canada's problem. Read on.

Canada's Tar Sands - What the government doesn't want you to know

Wilderness Committee Educational Report Vol.27 - No.04, Spring 2008

Canada's Tar Sands - Dirty energy muddies green promises

Tar sands processing plant Above: Smokestacks spew emissions from tar sands processing (S. Jocz) Below: The Mackenzie River watershed is one of the largest in the world and contains over half of the nation's freshwater flowing north to the Arctic Ocean. Tar sands pollution impacts much of the watershed and now wildlife are at risk from the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline bisecting this vast wilderness. (Garth Lenz). The blackburnian warbler is just one of the hundreds of bird species who depend on boreal forests for habitat. (Robert McCaw).

Mackenzie Valley + Blackburnian warbler

Few Canadians know that Canada is home to one of the world's largest dams and it is built to hold toxic waste from just one tar sands operation in northern Alberta. Everything about the tar sands happens on a massive scale. The enormous toxics problems go hand-in-hand with massive global warming pollution and the impending destruction of a boreal forest the size of Florida.

Because of sheer scale, all Canadians are impacted by the tar sands, no matter where they live. If you live downstream, your water is being polluted, and your fish and wildlife may be dangerous to eat. If you live in Saskatchewan you are a victim of acid rain. If you live in BC, "supertankers" may soon be plying your shoreline carrying tar sands oil to Asia. If you live in Ontario, you are exposed to harmful emissions from the refining of tar sands oil. And the impacts do not stop at Canada's border – US refineries are re-tooling to handle the dirty oil from Alberta.

Moreover, no matter where you live in Canada, your desire to tackle global warming is being held hostage to the tar sands. Instead of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Canada is quickly increasing them, and fully half of that emissions growth is projected to come from the tar sands.1 Because Canada's elected officials refuse to clamp down on tar sands operators, they also refuse to clamp down on industry across Canada for fear of a double standard.

Tar Sands Fast Facts

  • Tar sands mining is licensed to use twice the amount of fresh water that the entire city of Calgary uses in a year.
  • 90% of this fresh WATER ends up in tailing ponds so toxic that cannons are used to keep ducks from landing in them, although this isn't always effective.
  • Producing a barrel of tar sands oil produces three times more greenhouse gas emissions than a barrel of conventional oil. In a day processing the oil sands uses enough natural gas to heat 3 million homes.
  • Tar sands Operations are the fastest growing source of climate-changing emissions in Canada.

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    And it is just beginning. Approvals have already been given that will double the size of existing operations, and our leaders have been talking with the US government to grow the tar sands five-fold in a "short time span." 2 The tar sands are now the biggest capital project anywhere on Earth and the biggest energy undertaking anywhere. Already, Canada is the largest foreign supplier of US oil.

    In the service of growing the tar sands, the government gives tax breaks to the worst polluters; it fails to enforce its own environmental laws; and it is even trying to silence whistle-blowers who've tried to speak out on how the tar sands have harmed our health and our environment. With the tar sands, Canada has become the world's dirty energy superpower.

    It doesn't need to be this way. Technologies are available to curb the damage, yet the Canadian government so far refuses to force industry to clean up.

    All Canadians should join the chorus of leading figures such as Peter Lougheed, the former Premier of Alberta, in calling for a moratorium on new projects and a clean up of the tar sands. Premier Lougheed, originally instrumental in scaling up the tar sands in the late 1970s, now says:
    "...it is just a moonscape. It is wrong in my judgment, a major wrong... So it is a major, major federal and provincial issue."
    This is Canada's problem. It's time to clean it up or shut it down. Read on to find out more about the tar sands and what you can do, and then take action. There is only one atmosphere but there are many people who can take action to protect it.