Shell Canada Chairman: Consider Tar Sand Environmental Problems "In A Broader Context"

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Dave Collyer, Shell's chairman in Canada, said world demand means oil companies must exploit unconventional sources of energy. "You have to consider the environmental impact in a broader context," Collyer said. "There is significant economic benefit from the development of oil sands. The oil sands represent a very secure, reliable, long-term source of supply to the United States. People in the U.S. will have to judge whether that supply stacks up to other alternatives."

The oil industry's Maynard also said companies would be able to develop techniques to protect the environment in the same way they made the process of oil sands extraction commercially viable over the past 20 years. "It will take time," he added.

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Many also are worried about the amount of water taken from Alberta's Athabasca river. The extraction process uses 2 to 4½ barrels of water for each barrel of oil produced, according to the Pembina Institute, a nonprofit think tank. There are concerns, too, about the tailing ponds that sit next to the river. The ponds contain waste made from the separation of oil from sand. The toxic ponds look more like lakes and take up 50 square miles of northern Alberta.

Jeff Short, a U.S. government scientist who studied the long-term effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, said if one of the ponds spilled into the river, the impact would be felt for decades — or centuries. "It would be the equivalent of several hundred Exxon Valdez oil spills," Short said.
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http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-canada-dirty-oil,0,245368.story?page=2