Description
Tar Sands critically examines the frenzied development in the Canadian tar sands and the far-reaching implications for all of North America. Bitumen, the sticky stuff that ancients used to glue the Tower of Babel together, is the world’s most expensive hydrocarbon. This difficult-to-find resource has made Canada the number-one supplier of oil to the United States, and every major oil company now owns a lease in the Alberta tar sands. The region has become a global Deadwood, complete with rapturous engineers, cut-throat cocaine dealers, Muslim extremists, and a huge population of homeless individuals. In this award-winning book, a Canadian bestseller, journalist Andrew Nikiforuk exposes the disastrous environmental, social, and political costs of the tar sands, arguing forcefully for change. This updated edition includes new chapters on the most energy-inefficient tar sands projects (the steam plants), as well as new material on the controversial carbon cemeteries and nuclear proposals to accelerate bitumen production.
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""A scathing critique." Green Inc. The New York Times" ""An astonishingly entertaining read that raises your hackles while raising your awareness." Sustainablog" ""Required reading for every citizen." The Georgia Straight" "The Alberta tar sands could make Canada the world's second greatest oil exporter by 2050. Although growth has been tempered by the global financial crisis, U.S., Asian, and European investors are still pouring billions of dollars into the megaproject. To extract the world's ugliest, most expensive hydrocarbon, we are polluting our air, poisoning our water, destroying vast areas of boreal forest, and undermining democracy itself. In this new edition of his provocative bestseller, Andrew Nikiforuk assesses recent developments, refutes industry's claim that steam plants are a "greener" way to extract bitumen, and argues more convincingly than ever that it is folly to stake our future on dirty oil." ""Nikiforuk has a point, and he has guts ... Buy this book." Edmonton Journal" ""A slashing indictment of politicians in the back pockets of energy megacorporations, of regulators cowed into acquiescence, and of all of us who look the other way as we fill our gas tanks," Thomas Homer-Dixon, author of The Upside of Down"--Jacket.
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