Reply #2: Did you hear how Canadian oil sands are harvested ? [View All]

[Robbien]

Much of the production comes from strip mining forested land in a region about the size of Florida. To prepare the site, workers clear-cut stands of spruce, jack pine and aspen. Then earthmovers scalp the soil, sometimes removing 100 feet or more of earth to reach the oil sands. The industry refers to such land as "disturbed." So far 162 square miles have been disturbed. Eventually that will rise to 682 square miles, or about three times the land area of the City of Chicago.

The law requires oil companies to eventually restore the strip-mined land, with final approval by the provincial government. So far none has been approved, though the oil industry says there is no question the land will be reclaimed.

:cry: