Oil Sand Myths

[Redmonton_Rebel]

Well,you lost me there,did you read that on the net somewhere or is this from personal experience?

I don't work at the oil sands.

It's a multi-stage process that uses a lot of water and power just to get to the synthetic crude stage which is then refined into consumer products.

We convert bitumen into synthetic crude oil products for refineries. The production process begins at the Muskeg River Mine where the world’s largest trucks use giant shovels to excavate the ore containing the bitumen. Using warm water we separate the bitumen from sand and clay. The resulting heavy, viscous bitumen is diluted with a solvent, and transported by pipeline to the Scotford Upgrader where we convert it into synthetic crude oils.
At different refineries, including our Scotford Refinery, the crude is further processed into fuel products. The AOSP has a design capacity of 155,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. A 100,000-barrel-a-day expansion of both mining and upgrading facilities is currently under construction. More expansions are planned to achieve the long-term goal of producing more than 500,000 barrels a day.

Athabasca Oil Sands Project | Canada

 

[Kakato]

The ignorance is astounding,those with an agenda should at least do some research if they want to debate things they have no clue about.Most posts here are laughable at best to those iof us in the energy industry.

 

[Redmonton_Rebel]

That particular species of pine beetle came from China - suspected source- wooden pallets.

You got a source on that. I know they've been around a long time in BC, but they're just new in Alberta after being shot over the Rockies by the Jet Stream.

 

[Kakato]

The waters recycled,do your research before I make you look more the fool then you are doing on your own.

 

[Redmonton_Rebel]

The ignorance is astounding,those with an agenda should at least do some research if they want to debate things they have no clue about.Most posts here are laughable at best to those iof us in the energy industry.

Opinions are like assholes, everybody seems to have one.

 

[Kakato]

They were in Alberta in 1978,came over from the flathead valley in B.C. I know because the Alberta forestry was signing my paycheques on the pine beetle control program.They dont hit altitudes where the jet stream would carry them,they fly from pine stand to pine stand,allways mature pine that should have been harvested.

Jet stream....sheeeesh,must be rocket beetles!

 

[Redmonton_Rebel]

They are required to file a number of reports - the who knows is BS.You know it,I know it and anyone familiar with the topic knows it.

PS - And cut the insults

So you're answering for everybody else here now?

And unless I'm mistaken Colpy's baseless comment on my mental state wasn't intended as a complement.

If you want to join the pathetic losers who can't face reality on this crucial issue then go ahead, I'm not.

 

[Kakato]

Pine beetles in the jet stream....someone left reality a long time ago! lol!

I think the americans seeded the jet stream with contrails full of beetles from jets to start the softwood lumber fiasco myself.

 

[Goober]

You got a source on that. I know they've been around a long time in BC, but they're just new in Alberta after being shot over the Rockies by the Jet Stream.

Really - Do some research and no they did not get Air Miles

 

[Kakato]

Really - Do some research and no they did not get Air Miles

Hard to believe they could get "shot" to that altitude,I still think it was beetle seeding via contrails.

I loved working on the beetlekill program in the 70's,I got to fly around in choppers,rappell down to a beetle tree or lz and sometimes compass on to coords for beetle trees where we would perform a slow scorching ritual on them.Our pilots were all old Vietnam vets so it was a blast flying!

As for water usage in oilsands and coalmines....identical,only water used in the mining is for dust control,as for processing,they both use water,allmost all is recycled.

 

[Goober]

Hard to believe they could get "shot" to that altitude,I still think it was beetle seeding via contrails.

I loved working on the beetlekill program in the 70's,I got to fly around in choppers,rappel down to a beetle tree or lz and sometimes compass on to coords for beetle trees where we would perform a slow scorching ritual on them.

As for water usage in oilsands and coalmines....identical,only water used in the mining is for dust control,as for processing,they both use water,almost all is recycled.

I did rappelling in the army - full kit - what a blast - getting paid for that was a bonus - Bonus for all the other stuff- like camping shall we say where no one camped at that time of year.

 

[Kakato]

I did rappelling in the army - full kit - what a blast - getting paid for that was a bonus - Bonus for all the other stuff- like camping shall we say where no one camped at that time of year.

Arctic circle,-80 with windchill in an uninsulated prospectors tent for 7 weeks with ****ty heat and your beard froze to the sleeping bag every night,no roads for 2000 miles,good times,good times.

I can survive anything now,thought I was a dead man though many times out there.

 

[Goober]

Arctic circle,-80 with windchill in an uninsulated prospectors tent for 7 weeks with ****ty heat and your beard froze to the sleeping bag every night,no roads for 2000 miles,good times,good times.

I can survive anything now.

Amazing how we look back on those experiences as fun - Myself I loved the Army. Left on so called bad terms though.

Of course a good drink of something hard that warmed the heart was always available.

 

[Kakato]

Amazing how we look back on those experiences as fun - Myself I loved the Army. Left on so called bad terms though.

Of course a good drink of something hard that warmed the heart was always available.

I left the arctic last year halfway through my contract but it was for work past september,so did not leave on the best of terms but I gave them good notice,they shut down in september and I need full time work for a few years.It was fun and I wouldnt trade the experience for anything,you find out how tough you are when you CANT leave for at least 6 weeks at a time. I still have lots of contacts but dont think I will go back.ice road fun - YouTube

 

[lone wolf]

If a cold winter wasn't enough, the cold at 25 to 40 thousand feet - where the jet stream blows - would be enough

 

[Kakato]

If a cold winter wasn't enough, the cold at 25 to 40 thousand feet - where the jet stream blows - would be enough

about 15 feet above sea level in the eastern arctic,perfect altitude to get the blows off hudsons bay a days away
,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOeX7x3K4t0

Newer outlander tents,I had a crew of 8 trying to keep the camp open,it was a disaster.

 

[damngrumpy]

Yes come hell or high water, we will depend on oil for several centuries yet, and the
reason is, people want to drive private vehicles. I for one do not and would not even
consider the electric trip. Yes there are many false statements about the oil sands.
The are bad, and there is some good qualities as well.
The real task is not to shut them down. What has to be addressed is, first the bad
practices have to be corrected and the powers that be have to stop defending the
present system of doing things, and find the best solutions and then properly inform
the public of the changes and the benefits.
For some people the only thing that will make them change their mind is Death, for the
rest a proper explanation and the concept of reason will account for attitude change.

 

[skookumchuck]

Where have you been living for the last couple of decades, in Steven Harpers head.

Climate change is real and so is massive pollution in the Athabaska region. The Rockies glaciers that feed much of the year-round flow of rivers in the west are also in rapid retreat, what are we going to replace them with in the future. Some climatologists are predicting a desert stretching from Mexico to central Alberta in the coming decades and many cities in the western North America being abandoned due to lack of water resources.

In 2009 we had one of the worst droughts on record here with no rainfall for months. When the winds blew strongly as they tend to do more now in the summer(something else the old-timer mentioned) it almost felt like something out of films about Arabia with dense dust clouds covering the sky. What happens if the Athabaska dries out and a lot of that dust is toxic, it's not just Alberta that is at risk.

The issues just go on and on, people are living in a dream world if they think what our government is doing on oil sands development and climate change in general is sane. We're not winning Fossil Awards from the rest of the world for our sound grasp of reality at climate change conferences.



Who knows, security is tight up there.

They claim they've increased efficiencies, but the overall process has to use massive amounts of water, and produce massive amounts of toxic waste and CO2, there's no way around it. To make a pollution free oil sands project would cost so much it wouldn't ever be practical.

How convenient that you were not around during the droughts of the 30's across the prairies. Even more convenient that you would not read some history that is not made up from an agenda.
This forum has some from every political bent so you whining that it must be right wing means you have not read very much and likely come here with your own agenda. Or more probably your handler's agenda.

You got a source on that. I know they've been around a long time in BC, but they're just new in Alberta after being shot over the Rockies by the Jet Stream.

I was cutting Beetle killed pine for firewood west of Rocky Mountain House in the early 80's. If you are going to make flat statements purporting to be fact then you need some education outside of a lame attempt at political science.

 

[Kakato]

Yes come hell or high water, we will depend on oil for several centuries yet, and the
reason is, people want to drive private vehicles. I for one do not and would not even
consider the electric trip. Yes there are many false statements about the oil sands.
The are bad, and there is some good qualities as well.
The real task is not to shut them down. What has to be addressed is, first the bad
practices have to be corrected and the powers that be have to stop defending the
present system of doing things, and find the best solutions and then properly inform
the public of the changes and the benefits.
For some people the only thing that will make them change their mind is Death, for the
rest a proper explanation and the concept of reason will account for attitude change.

You got her DG! The oilsands are under a microscope,spill a drop of oil and a team moves in with a spill kit,machinery is moved in along with hazmat and we excavate the contaminated material and ship it to swan hills.We then put back the clay,the sub and topsoils and reclaim and reseed that patch.Environmental studies are done on that square inch for 20 years to monitor toxic contamination from that drop of oil and studies are done with the help of grants to be stored in the giant oil librarys of alberta for ever and ever.

 

[skookumchuck]

Don't forget that we need to get after ma nature about the bitumen that floated down every creek and river at runoff time for thousands of years. Not to mention that the Athabasca cut right through the deposit and the fish, wildlife, and natives survived somehow with no white man to blame.