Running head: FRACKING AND TAR SANDS 1

Fracking and Tar Sands

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Fracking and Tar sands

Fracking is a technique used for extracting oil and gas where a mixture of water,

chemicals and sand is pumped into the ground at high pressure in order to loosen shale rocks and

as a result cause the rocks to release oil and gas[ CITATION Amb20 \l 1033 ]. The high pressure of

the mixture injected into the ground, makes it possible for the oil and gas to flow out of the well

for further processing. Fracking has grown rapidly in the United States and now accounts for

more than half the supply of natural gases in the country. It has also contributed heavily to the

energy transformation and labelled as the shale gas revolution that is geared towards lowering

the price of fuel, cleaner environment and economic development.

Tar sands or oil sands on the other hand, is the process used to extract crude oil deposits

that have been mixed with sand and clay. Oil sand deposits are predominantly found in Canada

and more so in Alberta. The method used to extract oil from sand depends on the depth of the oil

reserves below the ground. For oil reserved close to the surface, the open pit method is used. In

this case, all the vegetation is cut down and the top soil removed in order to expose the oil-

soaked sand deposit[ CITATION Smi09 \l 1033 ]. The sand deposits are shoved and scooped into

trucks and transported to the extraction plants. The large sand particles are further crushed into

small lumps before super-heated water is added to separate the bitumen from the mixture of

sand, clay and bitumen. The shallow oil sand reserves only make up about 20 percent of oil

deposits in Canada. The rest of Canada’s oil sand reserves are found at depths exceeding 80

meters and are extracted using in-situ method[ CITATION Smi09 \l 1033 ]. Using this method, oil

wells are sunk deep into the oil sand reserves and hot steam injected into the deposit. The hot

steam makes the bitumen more viscous and therefore allows it to be pumped back up to the

surface for more processing.

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Fracking and tar sands processes, while at some point were thought as revolutionary,

are now hot topics for debate in both the media and science. These oil extraction techniques have

been credited with creating a lot of jobs and income streams as well as reducing the excessive

use of water and also air pollution that result from generating energy from coal[ CITATION

Men17 \l 1033 ]. However, they have also been concerns about how these oil mining techniques

have impacted the environment and global climate. Because of the environmental problems these

processes are thought to cause, its use or adoption has always been controversial.

Just from the overview of the two processes, its quite evident that extracting oil sands

reserves comes at a higher environmental cost compared to fracking. The open pit method of oil

sands mining in particular, adversely affects the natural ecosystem. The cutting of trees and

clearing of vegetation removes natural carbon sinks that would absorb carbon that is released

into the atmosphere as a result of human activities. Mass destruction of forest lands is evident

especially in Alberta Canada, where much of Boreal forest has been cleared to allow for oil

exploration. The first nation communities in Alberta have also blamed oil sand extraction process

for the destruction their hunting and fishing grounds from deforestation and water population.

In addition, the open pit method also degrades huge tracts of land while also generating

huge loads of toxic waste that have to be stored in tailing ponds. These wastes contain harmful

pollutants that could potentially sip into the ground and contaminate fresh water stored in

aquifers or nearby surface waters. The process also requires a huge amount of water resources

where water needs to be transported to the site or even a river diverted. Because oil sands

exploration requires a lot of energy to extract and process oil and gas, it ends up polluting the

environment more than other forms of conventional oil exploration.

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Fracking, which has been widely used in the United States, has also drawn a lot of

concerns. Like oil sands, fracking also requires huge amount of water which comes at a

considerable environmental cost. Moreover, there have been concerns that the chemicals pumped

into the ground could also contaminate ground water in aquifers. contaminated water when

consumed, could pose various health risks. The finished products such as gasoline and jet fuel

used to run engines causes air pollution and emits greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and

methane. Finally, there have been concerns that fracking may induce earthquakes. However,

evidence suggest that the oil extraction process may trigger micro-earthquakes whose magnitude

is below 2 and is often not significant[ CITATION Zha15 \l 1033 ]. These earthquakes have been

reported in areas in the United States where shale mining is still active.

Having analyzed the environmental impacts associated with racking and oil sand

extraction processes, there is definitely work to be done to address these concerns. The single

largest threat these extraction process cause to the environment is water contamination. In both

processes, water resources both on the surface or underground, are likely to be contaminated

from both chemicals used in the extraction process or from the toxic waste from the flow-back.

To solve this problem, there is need to standardize exploration activities that would allow for

early detection of leakages especially in fracking. Monitoring and control mechanisms also need

to be put in place to allow for the consistent detection of leakages and spillage. To address

deforestation and the destruction of the natural ecosystem, a land reclamation plan has to be put

in place for the redevelopment of the mining site once the oil and gas reserves have been

exhausted. In terms of water consumption, the stress on water resources is not significant at the

moment. However, to better manager water resources, governments and energy companies need
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to monitor water use and come up with a comprehensive plan on how to treat and recycle flow-

back water.
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References

Ambrose, J. (2020, April 25 ). America’s fracking boom flounders as global prices and demand

collapse. Retrieved from The Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/25/fracking-america-boom-founders-

prices-demand-collapse-covid-19

Meng, Q. (2017). The impacts of fracking on the environment: A total environmental study

paradigm. Science of the Total Environment, 580, 953-957.

Smith, C. (2009, November 16). How things work: Canada’s oil sands. Retrieved from Our

World: https://ourworld.unu.edu/en/canadas-oil-sands

Zhang, D., & Yang, T. (2015, December). Environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing in

shale gas development in the United States. Petroleum Exploration and Development,

42(6), 876-88.