Events in the Gulf of Mexico has caused all of us to think about where oil comes from, how it contributes to our quality of life, and how it touches us on a daily basis.
All oil has an environmental footprint. And it does play a big role in our daily lives. As one university professor recently wrote, “Just about anything that’s not iron or steel or metal of some sort has some petro-chemical component. And that’s just because of what we’ve been able to do with it.”
As Satya Das argues in his book ‘Green Oil’, shutting off oil sands as “dirty oil” is easier said than done. Das also believes the whole issue of dirty oil has been blown out of proportion. Most peer-reviewed studies, for example, suggest that oil sands has just 12-15% higher carbon emissions than “conventional” oil.
All sources of energy, even renewables, have an environmental footprint. There are certain things about the oil sands that make it an easy target for “dirty oil” campaigns: mining operations which create large unsightly tailings ponds, bitumen with a “tar-like” appearance, in-situ operations which use significant amounts of energy.
At Suncor, we recognize that our oil sands operations have an environmental impact and we are working hard to reduce our footprint. At the end of the day, oil and oil sands are an important part of the energy mix; the challenge for all of us is to make realistic and informed choices regarding energy, the economy and the environment.
