With 174 billion barrels of proven reserves and more than 150 billion dollars of capital investments, the alberta tar sands is planet's largest energy project.   But this vast energy wealth comes with a price.    Tar sands oil is three to five times as dirty as conventional oil and its extraction involves the use of huge amounts of water-- three times as much water is used as oil is produced.  This water becomes toxic in the extraction process and winds up in huge tailings ponds.  The rapid growth of the tar sands also represents a major reason why Canada will fail to meet its committments  to lower greenhouse gas emmissions under the kyoto protocal.  Environmentalists say that mining tar sands oil produces three to five times more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional crude.  But Canada is also getting a raw deal, and as Gordon Laxer explains, even with the incredible environmental destruction, our royalty rates are among the lowest in the world.

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Length: 0 sec

License: All Rights Reserved

Year of Production: 2008

Created: 01/12/2009 - 22:43