Alberta faces ‘unstoppable’ tar sands oil leak

[ferrelhadley]

A steady flow of oil leaking from the ground in Canada is causing everyone to “freak out”, according to a local scientist.
The spill is a result of a major oil sands operation taking place at Cold Lake, Alberta, using an “in situ” method of extraction.
The spill has taken place across four well sites, with the latest covering up to 40 hectares, according to the Alberta Energy Regulator. No one knows how to stop the leaks, which are ongoing.
In situ extraction, the method used to extract the oil, is often used in Canada, since much of its resources cannot be extracted through traditional open-pit mining techniques.
With this method, oil is forced out of the ground by injecting thousands of gallons of high pressure steam into underground oil reservoirs. The hard bitumen heats and liquefies, and can then be pumped through the cracks in the ground that are opened up by the process.
Gillian McEachern from Environmental Defence Canada told RTCC, “Typically tar sands were mined in the big open pit mines that you see the ugly pictures of, and that’s for the more shallow deposits of the tar sands.
“To reach the deeper deposits you need to use this in situ drilling method, and that’s what these wells are. They are increasing the amount of tar sands being produced and over time they will come to be quite significant.

http://www.rtcc.org/2013/07/26/alberta-faces-unstoppable-tar-sands-oil-leak/?

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Jesus: maybe I should follow the news more...

 

[Greebo]

Eris, Athena, and Ares, that is bad.

Jesus: maybe I should follow the news more...

Come off it, even you have to sleep.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

People expect me to know about Canada, though...

 

[Dr Jon]

http://www.rtcc.org/2013/07/26/alberta-faces-unstoppable-tar-sands-oil-leak/?

A scientist who had been working at the site spoke to The Star on the condition of anonymity over his concerns that Canadian Natural Resources were unable to stop the spill.
He said, “Everybody (at the company and in government) is freaking out about this. We don’t understand what happened. Nobody really understands how to stop it from leaking, or if they do they haven’t put the measures into place.”

Fuck.

ETA:
Out-of-control oil leaks at Canadian tar sands site

 

[MikeMcc]

Anybody thinks fracking is a good idea, look at this. It's essentially the same process, just on a nastier substance.

http://inhabitat.com/alberta-tar-sands-have-been-leaking-for-nine-weeks-with-no-signs-of-stopping/

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/leak...ontained-canadian-natural-resources-1.1391891

 

[Greebo]

http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/leak...ontained-canadian-natural-resources-1.1391891

First they claim it's contained, then they admit that the seepage will continue for some time. Environmental damage claimed to be nonexistant. Claims made that they checked it thoroughly and they'll check again before going any further.

Summary: We fucked up because it would have cost us too much to prevent this, and we were sort of hoping that you'd neither notice nor care. Er... our wriggling and shuffling counts as an apology and makes everything okay again, right?

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Luckily, that shit is 1500 miles from here.