A Forest of Blue - Canada's Boreal Forest, the World's Waterkeeper

Describes how the lakes, rivers, and wetlands comprising the boreal forest preserve biodiversity, mitigate global climate change effects, and offer food and cultural benefits to rural communities. Suggests policies to limit damaging industrial activities

The Valuation of the Alberta Oil Sands

The Alberta oil sands reserves represent a very valuable energy resource for Canadians. In 2007, Statistics Canada valued the oil sands at $342.1 billion, or 5 per cent Canada's total tangible wealth of$6.9 trillion. Given the oil sands' importance, it is essential to value them appropriately. In this report, we critically review the methods used by Statistics Canada in their valuation of the Alberta oil sands. We find that the official Statistics Canada estimates of the reserves (22.0 billion barrels) of Alberta's oil sands are very small compared to those obtained using more appropriate definitions, which results in an underestimation of the true value of the oil sands. Moreover, the failure to take into account the projected growth of the industry significantly magnifies this underestimation. We provide new estimates of the present value of oil sands reserves based on a set of alternative assumptions that are, we argue, more appropriate than those used by Statistics Canada. We find that the use of more reasonable measures of the total oil sands reserves (172.7 billion barrels), extraction rate (a linear increase from 482 million barrels per year in 2007 to 1,350 million barrels in 2015, and constant thereafter) and price ($70 per barrel, 2007 CAD) increases the estimated present value of the oil sands to$1,482.7 billion (2007 CAD), 4.3 times larger than the official estimate of $342.1 billion. Using our preferred estimate, Canada’s total tangible wealth increases by$1.1 trillion (17 per cent), and reaches $8.0 trillion with oil sands now accounting for 18 per cent of Canada’s tangible wealth. The importance of these revisions is also demonstrated by their impact on the per-capita wealth of Canadians, which increases from$209,359 to $243,950, or by$34,591 (or 17 per cent). Given the importance of the oil sands for Canada, Statistics Canada should undertake a review of its methodology. In light of the growing body of climatologic literature supporting an association between anthropogenic GHG emissions and global climate change, no analysis of the „true value? of the oil sands would be complete without an accounting of the social costs of the GHG emissions that arise from oil sands development. According to our baseline estimates, the oil sands impose a total social cost related to GHG emissions of $69.4 billion. In making this estimate, we assume that each barrel of oil sands output imposes a social cost of$2.25 (based on a cost of $30/tCO2-e and an intensity of 0.075 tCO2-e/bbl). Our preferred estimate of the net present value of oil sands wealth net of GHG cost is thus$1,413.3 billion, 4.1 times greater than the Statistics Canada estimate which does not account for any environmental costs. This report does not account for non-GHG related environmental and social costs. A comprehensive valuation of all environmental costs are needed to assess whether future benefits derived from oil sands development are outweighed by even larger environmental costs.Cost-Benefit, Oil Sands, Environmental Damage, CO2 Emissions, Alberta, Energy, Natural Resources, Valuation

Racial Extractivism: Neoliberal White Settler Colonialism and Tar Sands Extraction

This dissertation traces the reoccurrence of logics which attempt to justify white settler occupation and the extraction, theft and harm of Indigenous lands and life in the Athabasca region and in relation to the extraction, transportation and marketing of bitumen. By tracing the entrenchment of notions of white entitlement to land and life in this context, the repetitiveness of normalized epistemic and ontological colonial violence comes into view as just as much a part of the contemporary neoliberal moment as it was during the founding of the nation-state. The Athabasca region is home to the worlds second largest deposit of oil and is being aggressively extracted despite being an unconventional oil source that requires massive amounts of energy, water, toxic chemicals and irreversible environmental damage to extract. Herein, historical narratives of empire and nation-building are examined and linked to extractive industries over time, first within a colonial mercantilist economy, then within a capitalist economic structure and finally within the contemporary neoliberal context. The relationships between private capital and the white settler government are explored as deeply interconnected and as mutually involved in the creation and maintenance of normalized white settler colonialism. Furthermore, the dissertation examines the extractive practices of white settler colonialism as always already informed by logics of white supremacy, and develops the concept of racial extractivism as a theoretical lens through which race, racism and racialization as well as colonialism may be centered in studies of resource extraction and nation-state building. Influenced by Cedric Robinsons (1983) theorization of racial capitalism, racial extractivism contributes to studies of political economy, settler colonialism, and to cultural studies and is utilized in analyzing the more regionally specific context of tar sands extraction and the contemporary discursive strategies supporting it and marketing it domestically and internationally. Lastly, the project examines neoliberalism and the securitization of the industry and attempts to think about racial extractivism intersectionally, as white settler state power combines with the forces of private oil and gas companies to discursively and affectively normalize ongoing colonial violence

Navigating Reconciliation through Cultural Flows for Industrialized Free-Flowing Rivers

Cultural flows are an emergent water policy tool gaining recognition for their potential to overcome the continued marginalization of Indigenous peoples’ interests in Canadian freshwater governance, but quantified cultural flows are rarely adopted by state governments. Using community-based participatory research and leveraging an Ethical Space Framework, this research provides practical insight into the adoption of cultural flows in ways mutually acceptable to state governments and Indigenous peoples. The practical insight was gained by demonstrating the significance of a quantified cultural flows example termed Aboriginal Navigation Flows from Alberta and the institutional influences on its adoption by a state government. Data collected through documents and interviews revealed that ANF were significant because they translated an Indigenous conception of wellness connecting river navigability, boating, human relationships, human-waterscape relationships, Indigenous rights, and self-determined change adaptation. These insights into ANF significance showed how cultural flows could meaningfully shape freshwater governance in which environmental flow assessments for free-flowing rivers are undertaken. Data collected through documents and interviews and analyzed using the Implementing Innovation Framework revealed that structural institutions critically influenced ANF adoption. Joint communications by collaborating Indigenous peoples worked to overcome state government resistance grounded in vested economic interests. To reshape structural institutions, cultural drivers of ANF adoption could be better leveraged by overcoming individual barriers to ANF adoption. Collectively, these insights into ANF adoption show how freshwater governance arenas may become ethical spaces

Vegetation Changes in Alberta Oil Sands, Canada, Based on Remotely Sensed Data from 1995 to 2020

There are rich oil and gas resources in Alberta oil sand mining area in Canada. Since the 1960s, the Canadian government decided to increase the mining intensity. However, the exploitation will bring many adverse effects. In recent years, more people pay attention to the environmental protection and ecological restoration of mining area, such as issues related with changes of vegetated lands. Thus, the authors used the Landsat-5 TM and Landsat-8 OLI remote sensing images as the basic data sources, and obtained the land cover classification maps from 1995 to 2020 by ENVI. Based on the NDVI, NDMI and RVI, three images in each period are processed and output to explore the long-term impact of exploitation. The results show that from 1995 to 2020, the proportion of vegetation around mining areas decreased sharply, the scale of construction land in the mining area increased, and the vegetated land was changed to land types such as tailings pond, oil sand mine and other land types. In addition, three vegetation indexes decreased from 1995 to 2020. Although the exploitation of oil sand mining area brings great economic benefits, the environmental protection (especially vegetation) in oil sand mining areas should be paid more attention

Oil Sands Extraction: Lessons From Alberta Can, and Should, Inform American Policies

Enclosed is a final empirical project on foreign direct investment as impacted by (or impacting) infrastructure development levels in the countries of the former Soviet Union

Hydrogen production econometric studies

The current assessments of fossil fuel resources in the United States were examined, and predictions of the maximum and minimum lifetimes of recoverable resources according to these assessments are presented. In addition, current rates of production in quads/year for the fossil fuels were determined from the literature. Where possible, costs of energy, location of reserves, and remaining time before these reserves are exhausted are given. Limitations that appear to hinder complete development of each energy source are outlined

Oil Sands Energy Governance: An Ethnography on Negotiating Development and Indigenous Rights in Northern Alberta

Alberta’s oil sands constitute one of the largest and most contentious industrial extraction sites of our time. While the ecological and geopolitical effects of extraction in northern Alberta attract global attention, the local politics of energy development are relatively understudied. This ethnographic research deepens understanding of the processes of energy governance in Alberta. Based in Fort McMurray, at the heart of the oil sands, I employed institutional ethnography to investigate the changing political processes and social negotiations that surround energy extraction in northern Alberta. My anthropological research was based in the Mikisew Cree First Nation Government and Industry Relations Office. Mikisew has navigated a variety of legal and political spaces to protect their treaty and Aboriginal rights, and to enhance their self-determination. From May to September 2017, I engaged in participant observation, open-ended interviews, document and policy analysis, and a focus group. The body of my thesis comprises three chapters, which investigate: • The shifting landscape of energy governance in northern Alberta, highlighting emergent trends such as regulatory capture and engagement-oriented reforms. • The changing strategies espoused by Indigenous communities in the oil sands to defend their rights and interests, and more specifically, Mikisew’s political mobilization. • Mikisew’s experience advocating at UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee. I argue that while attempts are being made to enhance the participatory capacity of energy governance in northern Alberta, resource extraction in the region is managed by a relatively closed community of experts, resulting in the discounting of Indigenous voices and rights. In order to combat the traditionally closed practice of energy governance in Alberta, Indigenous mobilization has become increasingly sophisticated, growing in capacity and complexity. Mobilization strategies primarily comprise litigation, government consultation, industry negotiation processes, and advocacy. These strategies are strategically pursued and deployed in contextually dependent manners. The imperative of reconciling Indigenous rights, environmental sustainability, and Canada’s energy needs is ever increasing. Critical social research helps elucidate these trade-offs, as well as the manners in which Alberta’s governance regimes negotiate the costs and benefits of oil sands extraction. My participatory research illuminates current shortcomings in the management of energy extraction in northern Alberta, while exploring the current realities of Indigenous political mobilization. Shedding light on the governance of Alberta’s oil sands region will help foster sustainable and equitable development in Canada

IT\u27S NOT RAINBOWS AND UNICORNS : REGULATED COMMODITY AND WASTE PRODUCTION IN THE ALBERTA OILSANDS

This dissertation examines the regulated oilsands mining industry of Alberta, Canada, widely considered the world’s largest surface mining project. The industrial processes of oilsands mining produce well over one million barrels of petroleum commodities daily, plus even larger quantities of airborne and semisolid waste. The project argues for a critical account of production concretized in the co-constitutional relations of obdurate materiality and labor activity within a framework of regulated petro-capitalism. This pursuit requires multiple methods that combine archives, participant observation, and semi-structured interviews to understand workers’ shift-to-shift relations inside the “black box” of regulated oilsands mining production where materiality co-constitutes the processes and outcomes of resource development and waste-intensive production. Here, the central contradiction pits the industry’s colossal environmental impact and its regulated environmental relations, which – despite chronic exceedances – are held under some control by provincial and federal environmental agents, further attenuated by firms’ selective voluntary compliance with global quality standards as well as whistleblowers and otherwise “troublesome” employees. ‘It’s not rainbows and unicorns,’ explains one informant, distilling workers’ views of the safety and environmental hazards they simultaneously produce and endure as wage laborers despite pervasive regulation. In addition to buttressing geographical conceptualizations of socionatural resource production, contributions arise in the sympathetic engagement with workers, which may hold useful insights for activism against the industry’s environmental outcomes