Oil Sands Question and Response (OSQAR) Blog

End pit lakes: navigating unfamiliar waters

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One of the biggest and most controversial challenges in the oil sands industry is how to restore mined landscape to its natural state following mine closure.

Does new tailings report offer ingredients for pond be gone?

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Oil sands tailings – what’s left after the raw sand has been processed to extract the useful bitumen – has always been a complex challenge for the industry.

Stinky, mucky and oh so valuable

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Everything is nature has a purpose, so the saying goes. So what about places where you can’t venture without rubber boots, gloves, or bug spray? Surely we don’t need those mucky, swampy wetlands that abound across Alberta. They’re stinky, mushy, and not always suitable for camping, picnics and boating. 

Seeing the forest AND the trees

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Location, location, location — it’s as important for oil sands developers as it is for other businesses. For Suncor and its industry peers, the sought-after real estate is within the 142,200 square kilometres of land that lies atop Alberta’s oil sands.

What happens in Fort McMurray doesn't need to stay in Fort McMurray

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Critics of oil sands, particularly those from outside Alberta, like to characterize it as the energy industry’s dirty little secret.

Dishing the dirt on oil sands TMZ-style

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Celebrities undoubtedly hate the gossip website TMZ.com for its uncanny ability to get the scoop, usually accompanied by unauthorized and usually unflattering video and photos, and latest detail about their private lives. TMZ, by the way, stands for Thirty Mile Zone. Anything film production that happens within 30 miles of the intersection of West Beverly Boulevard and North La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles is counted as “local Hollywood,’’ and determines the rates and work rules film industry unions demand for their members.

Why four year olds think we're cool

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Suncor employees made palaeontological history the other day when they turned up the almost intact remains of an ankylosaur, one of the Jurassic Era’s most famous dinosaurs and the oldest dinosaur bones ever found in Alberta.

Making reclamation progress more visible: new reporting system

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Imagine sending your child to school and judging their progress as they complete three milestones: elementary, junior high and high school.

How much oil sands land is really being reclaimed?

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Environmental non-government organizations (ENGOs) have been critical of the oil sands for the slow pace and extent of reclamation.  

Putting NPRI pollution data into context

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The federal government’s latest National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) data highlighted how oil sands tailing ponds contain a wide variety of potentially harmful substances, notably heavy metals such as lead, mercury, chromium, and vanadium.*