Tar sand to be shipped to Great Lakes refineries for processing

An agreement announced between Imperial Oil, Exxon, and Enbridge
will pipe over 300,000 barrels per day of bitumen from the soon to be
developed Kearl lake project in northern Alberta. The Kearl Lake
project was recently denied an environmental permit due environmental
concerns about green house gases, however the Government of Canada
overrode that decision.

The agreement will require Enbridge to build new pipelines, but once
built they will allow a high volume flow of liquefied bitumen into
three refineries, all on the Great Lakes. The Sarnia, Ontario refinery
will process 119,000 barrels per day, the Nanticoke, Ontario refinery
will process 120,000 barrels per day, and the Joilet, Illinois
refinery will process up to 238,000 barrels per day.

Refining BItumen requires 3-6 times its volume of water. Alberta,
although rich in hydrocarbons, has a serious water shortage that is
steadily worsening. Shipping Bitumen out of Alberta for refining
neatly sidesteps the recently signed Great Lakes Compact. The Great
Lakes Compact, and international agreement between Canada and the
United States of America,

Much of the water consumed during refining is transformed into toxic
waste which accumulates in massive lakes called tailing ponds,
receives little further treatment, and remains toxic over many human
generations. Lax Regulations unfortunately let hydrocarbon producers
create this massive pollution problem despite making enormous profits.

This development represents a massive export of the waste and
pollution problem of the oil sands to the rest of the continent.

The first stage of the project is expected to become operational in 2012.

News release:

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