The biggest one is the water resources. To produce one barrel of oil takes 2-4 barrels of water, 750 cu feet of natural gas, and you’ll end up with 4 tonnes of tarry sludge that has to be put somewhere else. Water is used mostly with natural gas to push bitumen out of sand, separating. Sand sinks, bitumen floats. Hot water is used (heated by gas). Mining operations in the Athbasca area are licensed to draw 349 million cu metres of fresh water per year. Which is double the amount of water Calgary is licensed to draw (with just over a million people). Principle source is the Athabasca River. This is changing the makeup of the river itself, the use and quality. Water after use is recycled and put back into the river, some is so toxic that it’s held in massive tailing ponds. All of the tailing ponds would cover the area of 130 sq km.
And if you were to consider the atmosphere a resource...oh dear.
How do oil sands positively affect natural resources in Canada? It does not positively affect natural resources in Canada. It digs them out of the ground to feed the US market. That way Americans will have gas for their Hummers, SUV's and Trucks. All resource extraction uses up natural resources.
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The biggest one is the water resources. To produce one barrel of oil takes 2-4 barrels of water, 750 cu feet of natural gas, and you’ll end up with 4 tonnes of tarry sludge that has to be put somewhere else. Water is used mostly with natural gas to push bitumen out of sand, separating. Sand sinks, bitumen floats. Hot water is used (heated by gas). Mining operations in the Athbasca area are licensed to draw 349 million cu metres of fresh water per year. Which is double the amount of water Calgary is licensed to draw (with just over a million people). Principle source is the Athabasca River. This is changing the makeup of the river itself, the use and quality. Water after use is recycled and put back into the river, some is so toxic that it’s held in massive tailing ponds. All of the tailing ponds would cover the area of 130 sq km.
And if you were to consider the atmosphere a resource...oh dear.
....POSITIVELY?! They don't.
How do oil sands positively affect natural resources in Canada? It does not positively affect natural resources in Canada. It digs them out of the ground to feed the US market. That way Americans will have gas for their Hummers, SUV's and Trucks. All resource extraction uses up natural resources.
Money pays taxes which allows local province to build parks to make up for the gaping holes left by oil sand projects.