Canada's Oil Sands

To whom it may concern,

The Canadian oil sands mines in Alberta province are an absolute environmental disaster. It is a clear indication of what not just this country, but the entire world’s thirst for oil will eventually mean for our global environment. When it become economically viable to devastate vast tracts of land to continue to produce a non-renewable resource, we must begin to rethink not just our transportation sector, but our priorities. Canada is the largest importer of oil to America, and 50 percent of the oil produced at the oil sands mines goes to the United States. We are very much responsible for these operations and their continued expansion and remediation. The complicated process of extracting and then producing oil from oil sands emits three times as much greenhouse gases as it does from pumping it out of an oil derrick. A huge amount of natural gas (not to mention water), the world’s cleanest and most plentiful non-renewable resource, is consumed to create the world’s most expensive and dirtiest fuel. My greatest fear is that the success of the oil sands mines will lead to the mining of oil shale in the Rocky Mountains. It is widely believed that we have reached peak oil, and that demand will continue to outrun supply, creating scenarios where these types of extraction techniques will become not only viable, but necessary. How will this administration change the way that our transportation sector is powered, and how will you protect the oil shale mountains of Colorado and prevent further degradation of the oil sands in Canada?

GUNNAR HAND, AICP