Thank you for bringing their error to our attention. It is certainly not accurate to say that current oil sands mines are the size of England. The current mine footprint is about 600 km2 and the total surface mineable area, the majority of which has been leased for oil sands development, is about 4800 km2 (see http://www.oilsandswatch.org/os101/alberta#footnoteref9_lbu27ca). This is a sizeable area by any accounts, but it is incorrect to compare it to the size of England.
The land area of England is about 130,000km2, which is about the same as the area of Alberta's oil sands deposit at 140,000 km2. There are significant concerns about the projected development of this area (over 80,000km2 has already been leased) through in-situ development in the absence of a land use plan (see http://www.oilsandswatch.org/pub/1262), but it is not accurate to suggest this area will be mined.
At the Pembina Institute we believe the facts around oil sands development, and the need to mitigate impacts and develop more responsibly speak for themselves, and I'm glad you have had a chance to review these materials. It is not helpful to this discussion to be dealing with inaccurate information that either downplays or exaggerates the environmental impacts of oil sands development.
There is so much information out there from all kinds of unofficial sources that we don't have the resources to rebut it all individually, but we will continue to bring a focus on factual information to the debate through our reports and materials.
Simon — Dec 17, 2009 - 09:37 AM MT
Stu--
Thank you for bringing their error to our attention. It is certainly not accurate to say that current oil sands mines are the size of England. The current mine footprint is about 600 km2 and the total surface mineable area, the majority of which has been leased for oil sands development, is about 4800 km2 (see http://www.oilsandswatch.org/os101/alberta#footnoteref9_lbu27ca). This is a sizeable area by any accounts, but it is incorrect to compare it to the size of England.
The land area of England is about 130,000km2, which is about the same as the area of Alberta's oil sands deposit at 140,000 km2. There are significant concerns about the projected development of this area (over 80,000km2 has already been leased) through in-situ development in the absence of a land use plan (see http://www.oilsandswatch.org/pub/1262), but it is not accurate to suggest this area will be mined.
At the Pembina Institute we believe the facts around oil sands development, and the need to mitigate impacts and develop more responsibly speak for themselves, and I'm glad you have had a chance to review these materials. It is not helpful to this discussion to be dealing with inaccurate information that either downplays or exaggerates the environmental impacts of oil sands development.
There is so much information out there from all kinds of unofficial sources that we don't have the resources to rebut it all individually, but we will continue to bring a focus on factual information to the debate through our reports and materials.
Thanks for visiting our blog.
--Simon