Extraction of Alberta’s energy-intensive tar sands has expanded
steadily in recent years, with about 232 square miles now
exposed by mining operations at the Athabasca River site. Tar
sands production is expected to double over the next decade,
which could mean the destruction of 740,000 acres of boreal
forest and a 30% increase in carbon emissions from Canada’s oil
and gas sector. New satellite images show the dramatic expansion
that has taken place from 2001 through 2011. (Photos by Robert
Simmon, NASA/Landsat/USGS.) So what’s the actual impact on the
ground? Here’s what happens when you turn a carbon sink like the
Boreal Forest into a carbon-spewing pit of tar sands. (Photos
from VisionShare and Co-op Financial Services via Flickr. Note:
These are not the same patch of land.) - Canadian Officials
Privately Admit “an Absence of Credible Scientific Evidence”
That Tar Sands Are Getting Cleaner