Environmental consequences of oil production from oil sands

Land use greenhouse gas emissions from conventional oil production and oil sands.

Debates surrounding the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from land use of biofuels production have created a need to quantify the relative land use GHG intensity of fossil fuels. When contrasting land use GHG intensity of fossil fuel and biofuel production, it is the energy yield that greatly distinguishes the two. Although emissions released from land disturbed by fossil fuels can be comparable ...

Oil Sands Contaminants

Alberta oil sands development.

P olycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a ubiquitous class of hundreds of organic compounds composed of two or more aromatic rings that are released naturally and from human activities. Natural sources of PAHs include forest fires, oil seeps, and volcanic eruptions; anthropogenic sources include burning of fossil fuels and wood, production of coke and charcoal, petroleum refining, and petr...

History of environmental contamination by oil sands extraction.

T he extraction and processing of Canada’s massive oil sands in the Athabasca region of northern Alberta have been marked by an ongoing controversy about the nature and extent of associated environmental impacts. Impacts include habitat destruction and fragmentation by surface mining and tailings disposal, depletion of water resources, greenhouse gas and chemical emissions, and the impacts of e...

Particulate emissions from Athabasca oil sands

Introduction Conclusions References