derryl

The Oil Sands: Profiting from a Misunderstood Patch in the Oil Complex

Mad,
Mining is a physical activity that requires removing whatever is in the way of the resource. The steam assisted gravity fed tarsands projects have the footprint equivalent of conventional oil wells while the stripmining operations disrupt a much larger area. Suncor, Syncrude and the other large operations are massive undertakings.

Yes, there is some leaching when failsafes fail, but the cancer and other "devastation" numbers you used are hysterical rather than real. Like open pit coal or copper mining, once the resource is extracted the land is restored to close to its original condition. Hydro, a 'green' energy, requires building dams and flooding 100s of square mile of land for reservoirs. Tarsands are far less environmentally devastatng than hydro reservoirs. Windmills kill far more birds every year than tarsands tailings ponds ever will.

If you don't like mining because it's so evil and polluting then stop using resources that can only be acquired by digging up the ground. The hypocrisy of National Geographic, flying around the planet to do exposes on the companies whose product--oil--fuels the planes they ride in, would be appalling if I had any outrage left for green hypocrites.