...ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE ATHABASCA OIL SANDS “The modern era began with the discovery that started the most brilliant, inventive, and destructive age in the history of mankind. The age of energy.” The Athabasca oil sands were founded in the late 1960s and have now developed into a major player within the Canadian economy, acting as its prominent supplier of crude oil. With roughly 2.5 trillion barrels of oil in the ground, the oil sands are one of the largest deposits in the world. However, a problem arises with the extraction process, as it is both expensive and cumbersome with the presence of bitumen within the oil (a highly viscous, black hydrocarbon). Therefore, the extensive extraction process that is required by oil mining companies leads to negative environmental implications. As a result, this paper will discuss the extent of these environmental implications in terms of escalating greenhouse gas emissions, the depletion and contamination of water reserves, and the destruction of terrestrial ecosystems within the Boreal forest. In addition to this, the underlying notion of Alberta’s unlikely future for a sustainable environment. Greenhouse gases (GHG) are emissions within the atmosphere that absorbs and emit radiation, thus damaging the ozone layer. Taking this into consideration, the expansionary development associated with the Athabasca oil sands are rapidly increasing the level of pollution emitted within Canada. The oil sands alone are a source of more than one...
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...Athabasca Oil Sands Project Case Study Analysis Recognize All Moral Impacts Stakeholder Write up: Stakeholders are individuals or groups that have one or more of various kinds of stakes in an organization and may affect and be affected by actions, decisions, or practices of the business. The key stakeholders in relation to the Athabasca Oil Sand Project are the governments, the public, and the natural environment. The first secondary social stakeholder with high interest and high power is the government. Governments hold high power as they set out the regulations and need the businesses to do well in order to maintain a strong economy. Consequently, they hold great legitimacy, urgency, and power. The Canadian government are particularly interested in the Athabasca Oil Sand Project because oil sands development not only benefits all Canadians through employment opportunities but also contributes to the highest rate of economic growth in Canada over the last 20 years. “The Tar Sands are now the biggest capital project anywhere on Earth and the biggest energy undertaking anywhere.” The government sees this as an excellent opportunity for a growing economy, thus supporting the project. The government also holds great power, as they are the ones enforcing the laws and regulations upon a business or organization. However, in this case, the government “fails to enforce its own environmental laws; and it is even engaging in cover-up when people blow the whistle on how...
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...An analysis of the cost/benefit profile of the Alberta oil sands The Alberta oil sands is one of the largest and most controversial energy projects on the planet; whereby large quantities of bitumen are converted into oil through complex and energy intensive chemical processes. The tar sands contain approximately 170 billion barrels of oil, and are the third largest proven reserve of oil in the world. It is expected that this operation will continue to experience rapid development which may result in a diverse array of negative and positive impacts that could significantly influence our society. The advantages and disadvantages of the Alberta oil sands can be analyzed through four key components: political, economic, technological and environmental toxicological perspectives. The cost/benefit profile of the tar sands is evident, and in order to properly address this issue, a plausible and realistic solution must be implemented. Therefore, this will hopefully lead to a decrease in the environmental toxicological and public health impacts associated with the tar sands while preserving socio-economic growth and technological advancement. The political aspect of the oil sands is mainly regulated through the government of Alberta. These legislative members continually promote the expansion of this project as well as advertise its contributions to the economic and technological sector within Canada. The current governmental laws...
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...TransCanada Keystone XL “Alberta's tar sands” are being proposed to cross six states in the U.S. via a pipeline carrying as much as 830,000 barrels a day of a particularly dirty form of oil, expected to reach refineries in Port Arthur, Texas on the Gulf of Mexico. I hear the sound of disaster headed to us faster than a locomotive. Montana is full of pristine water ways and unspoiled lands. The greekgroke web site says sending bitumen down a pipeline is especially problematic and damaging: it’s a more acidic form of petroleum that requires more heat and pressure than conventional oil, which increase pipeline stress to keep it moving. (Chameides) How can this create anything but a hazard to the communities and environments of the states the pipeline is proposed to cross? The Environmental Defense website says Canada’s own environment commissioner says there is a lot the federal government doesn't know about the environmental effects of the oil sands, despite having spent close to $10 billion over the last three decades on climate-change programs. (Staff) Canada’s environmental record has been given a double blow, from a scathing federal audit and a European Commissions assertion to blacklist oil sands products. (Staff) Why would our government even consider putting toxic oil sands across the United States? Canada should use its own refineries and ports that are already established, especially in view of Canada not knowing the full impact the oil sands have on its ecosystems...
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...Tar sands location and area The tar sands are large deposits of bitumen, which is a form of crude oil. This consists largely of bitumen, sand, and clay. This area covers over 100,000 square kilometers. he tar sands are located in located in specifically, Alberta. Habitants of Fort Chipewyan While the population of Fort Chipewyan is relatively small, a sizable percentage are indigenous people. These individuals often have lower income, which is especially troubling because a large number of these people rely on a traditional diet of local plans and animals to survive. Continuously, I think that we can see a similar situation with people of color having bodies that are less valuable than wealthy, white communities. For instance, with the North Dakota pipeline, Native Americans have been fighting to not have the pipeline go through their reservation in order to maintain sacred land, and protect their water. The pipeline wasn’t originally supposed to even pass through that area, however the white community it was planned to be played through complained about the dangers of possible contamination. Health problems of Habitants...
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...Topic Tar sands oil spill in arkansas Name Nadya Sanjaya SID 1412251 DELETE THIS PAGE WHEN YOU HAND IN THE EXAM Objective: This take home exam is designed to test your understanding and interpretation of engineering ethics principles and social science issues as related to contemporary engineering problems. Procedure: Select a current engineering topic that is not the Dreamliner. Follow the questions on the subsequent pages. Writing format: Times new roman font, 12 pt. Single-spaced with justified margins. Just like on this page here. One space in between each paragraph. Email the final copy to r.angelo.borrelli@gmail.com. Points will be deducted for incorrect format. Citations: Please cite all sources you use. In the text of the paper, please use a superscript when you make a citation, like this.1 Then, in the REFERENCES section, list your sources in order. Length: ‘Sufficient.’ I am not going to give a set page limit. Be concise but show depth. Writing style: You will be writing in some form, whether technical writing or essays, and then when you get jobs in the real world. There is no time to start practicing like now. Grammar and spelling are part of the grade! Proof-read your paper several times! 1. Introduction [10] Please introduce your topic and explain why it is important to you. The topic I’m writing is about the tar sands oil spill in Mayflower, Arkansas. ExxonMobil, the company that runs the pipeline was in charge of the...
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...These questions are from the Text Book – Scott, W.R., Financial Accounting Theory – 5th Edition, Person Prentice-Hall, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-13-207286-1. Question 1: From Chapter 4 (Efficient Securities Markets) Question 13. Zhang (2005) examined revenue recognition practices in the software industry. Software firms derive revenue from software licensing and post-contract customer support. In both cases, the point in time when significant risks and rewards of ownership are transferred to the buyer and amounts to be receive can be reliably measured are unclear. Consequently, there is scope for alternative revenue recognition practices in the industry. With respect to licensing, one alternative is to recognize revenue when the licensing contract is signed (early recognition). Another is to wait until the software is delivered to the customer, consistent with the usual sales basis of revenue recognition (late recognition). With respect to post-contract customer support, alternatives are to recognize revenue when contracts are signed (early recognition) or recognize revenue ratably over the term of the contract (late recognition). Zhong examines a sample of 122 firms over 1987 – 1997, of which 22 firms were early recognizers and 93 late. He measured the relevance of a firms’s quarterly revenue by its association with its share returns for the quarter. Given the securities market efficiency, revenues of early recognizers should be more highly associated with their share returns than...
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...The Cost-Benefit Analysis of Alberta’s Tar Sands Student Name: Nas Abubaker Instructor Name: Brenda Lang Course and Section: GNED 1304-009 Date: March 22, 2011 Abstract Alberta is one of the most ecologically rich provinces in Canada, with boreal forests covering most of the northern and eastern parts of the province. The exploration of the Alberta tar sands has a great impact on the environment and the community. The devastation effects can destroy ancient forests, while contaminating food and water, which disrupts local wildlife, leading to greenhouse gas emissions, as well as serious health problems. As the production of oil through tar sands creates intensive challenges, immediate strategies that control the amount of devastation are greatly needed. The Cost-Benefit Analysis of Alberta’s Tar Sands As the world is racing to discover new ways to find replacements for the rapidly diminishing stores of fossil fuels, many have gone into the avenue of looking for the solution via the route of renewable energy. However, the discovery of Canada's greatest buried treasure in Alberta has drawn attention from a multitude of countries around the world, all of them eager to sign contracts with Canadian petroleum suppliers. In a report released by the government in the late 1800's, a report dealing with the region's tar sands called them as the “most extensive petroleum field in America, and even went to the extent that the fields will...
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...reduce our dependency on overseas energy, reduce emissions from trucks on the road transporting oil as well as train cars carrying oil. In a country hurting for jobs and some kind of positive economic relief this project can help ease some pains. If our government can waste millions upon millions on failed energy efforts than it can support one that will actually provide jobs and money to this country instead of taking money and not being worth the effort as many of the green initiatives have proven to be. The main opponents to the pipeline being built are on the environmental side. Their main reasoning is that it will have huge negative impacts on the environment and the areas in which the pipeline will cross through. Now while there is always the possibility of this pipeline having negative impacts on the areas around it but the way those on the environmental side would have attacked it are unjust. They claim it will leave a big carbon footprint and cause too much pollution in the environment. President Obama even made it a point not to permit this from being built until the dangers can be assessed. The State Department investigated and surveyed the probable impacts of the Keystone XL pipeline built and it discovered that the impact from building the pipeline would not be significant because the Canadians will extract the oil either way and find other means to transport the oil (Walsh 2014). Those in the environmental community still were not satisfied and claimed the numbers...
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...AN ANALYSIS OF IMPERIAL OIL 9 Strategic DirectionImperial Oil does not take a conventional stance on professing its vision, mission, and values. It does not explicitly state any of these guides, but instead offers a combination of the three under such headers as “Our approach,” “Outlook for energy to 2030,” “Safety,” “Innovation,” “Greenhouse gas emissions,” “Water management,” “Air quality,” “Land management,” “Economic development,” “Aboriginal development,” and “Our people”.As the vision, mission, and value statements are not offered in a conventional format, they have been condensed and interpreted primarily from the “What guides us” and “How we do business” portions of Imperial Oil's website, as well as “Our approach” in the file “This Is Imperial Oil”. The statements presented here are created in the interest of having declared goals in these categories, which the company has not listed under the titles “vision,” “mission,” or “value”; they are derivative of information presented on the website, and are not stated explicitly by Imperial Oil. Vision:“Nobody gets hurt — we aim for 100% safety on the job and continually work towards improving that goal while exploring for, producing, refining and marketing products essential to society.” Mission: “We focus on these priorities: creating value for customers and shareholders, upholding business ethics, fostering responsible development, maintaining operational excellence, cultivating a strong workforce, and contributing...
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...desertification, and soil nutrient loss to the point that we are now facing a future world without trees, which would ultimately mean a world without people. Experts and advocates of environment-centred reforms to policies, laws, and harmful corporate and social practices currently make up the global environmental [protection] movement, which seeks to consolidate individual efforts to improve upon the ways human beings interact with the planet. The global issue of the Environment encompasses many diverse matters of interest some of which will be discussed in this paper, which include: Animal Rights, Climate Change, Natural Disasters, Sustainable Development, Biodiversity, and Green Spaces. INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVE The Alberta tar sands are the largest oil reservoir of crude bitumen in the world, located in Northern Alberta, Canada, Treaty 8 area, beneath 4.3 million hectares of boreal forest. Bitumen is a semi-solid...
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...Investment Objective The investment objective for our group is “growth”. We have selected a long-term investment for the intent of wealth building. Growth stocks are intended to appreciate in value, as these companies have historical growth above average earnings, excellent cash flows to service their debts and high operating margins. Barrick Gold Corp. Barrick Gold Corp. is the gold industry leader. They have the largest un-hedged gold production and gold reserves in the industry. We chose to invest in Barrick Gold Corp. based on their target for growth, “A” rated balance sheet and their vision for being the best gold mining company through safe, profitable and socially responsible practices. Their income is generated from the finding, acquiring, developing and producing of quality gold reserves. In 2010, Barrick produced 7.8 million ounces of gold at a total cost of $457 per ounce and is targeting to grow to an annual production of 9.0 million ounce of gold within 5 years. The company also has exploration and developments projects that include proven and probable reserves of copper and silver. Stock Analysis On Feb.2, 2011, we purchased 423.01 of Barrick’s shares for $47.28 each. Their share price fluctuated from the purchase date till Mar.18. The share price was at its lowest the week of Feb.11. It increased by $4.00 by the end of week Feb.18, at the time the company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.12...
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...In 1967, Suncor pioneered commercial development of Canada's oil sands – one of the largest petroleum resource basins in the world. Since then, Suncor has grown to become a globally competitive integrated energy company with a balanced portfolio of high-quality assets, a strong balance sheet and significant growth prospects. Constructed by the British American Oil Company in 1951 at a cost of $8 million, the Edmonton refinery produced about 12,000 barrels of refi need product per day. Through the years, the plant experienced several changes, including being purchased by Gulf Canada and later Petro-Canada in 1986. Suncor Energy is a Canadian integrated energy company based in Calgary, Alberta. It specializes in production of synthetic crude from oil sands. Suncor ranks number 134 in the Forbes Global 2000 list. Until 2010, Suncor marketed products and services to retail customers in Ontario through a downstream network of 280 Sunoco-branded retail sites, and 200 customer-operated retail and diesel...
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...capital plans in the Oil Sands are balanced between advancing development plans for Oil Sands Ventures, building new infrastructure to enhance marketing flexibility and takeaway capacity, and commencing work on a variety of debottlenecking projects.”(1) Suncor is adding to their resources to ensure they remain profitable, as well as to increase profits, into the future. “Suncor continued to return cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. The company repurchased $408 million of its common shares in the fourth quarter of 2012, and returned more than $2.0 billion to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends in 2012.” (1) With this much value on their returns it seems as if Suncor’s approach is working, the resource-based approach is adding value to the company that is being returned to the stakeholders. The type of company you are running will decide which approach will work best. With a goal based approach the company would decide how well they are doing based on whether or not they reached goals that they set. The internal process approach determines how well the company is doing based on the internal workings of the company. The strategic constituents based approach lets the stakeholders decide how well the company is performing. If shareholders, employees, customers, creditors, and the community are all happy with the company then they are performing well. If Suncor were to judge success by the amount of barrels of oil they produced and...
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...Ezergailis, P.Eng. 416 983 7784 linda.ezergailis@tdsecurities.com Robert Hope, CFA 416 983 9717 robert.hope@tdsecurities.com Enbridge Inc. (ENB-T, ENB-N) C$31.58 Enbridge to Twin the Athabasca Pipeline for $1.2 billion Event Enbridge has announced that it will twin the southern portion of its existing Athabasca crude oil pipeline between Kirby Lake, AB and Hardisty, AB at an expected cost of $1.2 billion. Impact POSITVE. We estimate the expansion will contribute $0.04 of EPS on an annualized basis when volumes ramp up although we expect it will not contribute to earnings until 2015. Details Athabasca Expansion – Twinning Overview: • Overview: Enbridge has announced that it will install a new twin 345km, 36” liquids pipeline beside its existing Athabasca pipeline between Kirby Lake and Hardisty, Alberta. • Volumes: The twin line will accept volumes from oil sands projects in the Kirby area. We note that Enbridge’s Christina Lake Lateral, which services Cenovus’ and ConocoPhillips’ Christina Lake Enhanced Oil Project, delivers into the Athabasca system near Kirby. The twinning project will allow Enbridge to accommodate new long-haul oil sands volumes from the Cheecham or Athabasca terminals to Hardisty. • Cost: The twin line is expected to cost $1.2 billion. • Capacity: The twin line will initially add 450 kbpd of liquids capacity, which could be cost effectively expanded to 800 kbpd. The project will increase the capacity of the...
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