Report: (extraction and refining of oil from) Tar sands threaten birds

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.post-trib.com/news/1361856,tarbirds.article

Report: Tar sands threaten birds

January 5, 2009
By Gitte Laasby

Post-Tribune staff writer

Up to 166 million of the birds we see in our back yards could disappear as a result of extraction and refining of oil from Canadian tar sands, according to a new report.

BP is expanding its Whiting refinery to be able to increase its use of tar sands.

Dark-eyed juncos, white-throated sparrows, horned grebes and short-billed dowitchers are just some of the birds on a long list of species that are in decline and whose summer habitat could be in danger, states the report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Boreal Songbird Initiative and the Pembina Institute.

"At a time when bird populations are rapidly declining, this report puts into perspective the far-reaching effects of tar sands oil development on North America's birds," said the report's lead author, Jeff Wells, a scientist with the Boreal Songbird Initiative. "The public needs to understand the real and long-term ecological costs of this development and determine if this is acceptable."

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http://www.nrdc.org/wildlife/boreal%20birds.asp (Report is presumably here, but does not appear to be available.)

[4dsc]

1. Lets hope low oil prices takes it toll

I am wondering how low oil prices are going to effect the mining of these tar sands..

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. Canadian oil-sand mines stuck as crude price plummets

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article5447053.ece

From The Times
January 5, 2009

Canadian oil-sand mines stuck as crude price plummets

Canada's once booming oil sands industry is cooling fast as the plunging oil price undermines investment. More than US$60 billion (£41 billion) worth of projects to extract oil from the bitumen-rich sands of northern Alberta have been delayed in the past three months, according to a study of industry figures by The Times.

A string of companies, including Royal Dutch Shell, Petro-Canada and SunCor, have been among those that have frozen multibillion dollar projects - in some cases indefinitely.

As much as 175 billion barrels of oil are contained in the oil-rich sands of the Athabasca region - second only to Saudi Arabia in a ranking of different countries' proven oil reserves. But the process of extracting crude from sand, either by mining or injecting steam to recover it in situ, is both environmentally controversial, requiring the use of huge amounts of energy and water, and expensive.

The cost of production can be as high as $70 a barrel compared with $5 a barrel for some of the largest onshore oilfields in the Middle-East.

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