Nikiforuk

Fifty percent of the landscape that has been disturbed were wetlands and we have no plans, at this point in time, to replace those wetlands, because, number one, we do not know how to do it, and number two, the economic cost of doing so would be extraordinary, said Nikiforuk.

Canadian Oil Sands Provide Economic Boom with Environmental Risks 2010

Environmentalists like Andrew Nikiforuk say development of the oil sands should be slowed down.

Canadian Oil Sands Provide Economic Boom with Environmental Risks 2010

Environmentalists like Andrew Nikiforuk say development of the oil sands should be slowed down.

Canadian Oil Sands Provide Economic Boom with Environmental Risks 2010

Fifty percent of the landscape that has been disturbed were wetlands and we have no plans, at this point in time, to replace those wetlands, because, number one, we do not know how to do it, and number two, the economic cost of doing so would be extraordinary, said Nikiforuk.

Canadian Oil Sands Provide Economic Boom with Environmental Risks 2010

This project has placed both Canada and the United States, who are dear friends, in an awkward position, where we have now replaced Saudi Arabia as the number one purveyor of oil [to the United States] and we have taken on a number of Saudi characteristics, in the sense that we are not being totally honest about how dirty this whole project is, added Nikiforuk.

Canadian Oil Sands Provide Economic Boom with Environmental Risks 2010

But environmental writer Andrew Nikiforuk, author of the book Tar Sands, Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent, says such reclamation does not leave the land the same as it was before.

Canadian Oil Sands Provide Economic Boom with Environmental Risks 2010

But environmental writer Andrew Nikiforuk, author of the book Tar Sands, Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent, says such reclamation does not leave the land the same as it was before.

Canadian Oil Sands Provide Economic Boom with Environmental Risks 2010

But Nikiforuk says the in-situ plants use too much energy, in the form of cleaner burning natural gas, and too much water to make steam.

Canadian Oil Sands Provide Economic Boom with Environmental Risks 2010

But Nikiforuk says the in-situ plants use too much energy, in the form of cleaner burning natural gas, and too much water to make steam.

Canadian Oil Sands Provide Economic Boom with Environmental Risks 2010

This project has placed both Canada and the United States, who are dear friends, in an awkward position, where we have now replaced Saudi Arabia as the number one purveyor of oil [to the United States] and we have taken on a number of Saudi characteristics, in the sense that we are not being totally honest about how dirty this whole project is, added Nikiforuk.

Canadian Oil Sands Provide Economic Boom with Environmental Risks 2010