Earlier today (Wednesday September 15th), Bloomberg announced that Shell has started extracting oil from the vast amounts of oil sand located in Alberta, Canada. (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-15/shell-starts-output-at-canadian-oil-sand-expansion-update1-.html) As the Canadian oil sand equates to the seconds largest concentration of crude oil in the world, many notable players in the oil industry have been attracted to the “black gold” reserves, including Hydro, Statoil, BP and Exxon Mobil.
Environmentalists and aboriginals are furious with the developments – and with good reason. Scientists claim that in 2025, between 1.6-2.3 billion cubic feet of natural gas will be required each day to extract the projected amounts of oil sand (1/5 of daily Canadian gas production) (http://www.energybulletin.net/53455). Moreover, the extraction, refinement and consumption of the oil will lead to massive amounts of Greenhouse Gases, in a time where more and more countries are agreeing to limit their GHG emissions. (http://www.mapleleafweb.com/features/alberta-s-oil-sands-key-issues-and-impacts#environmental)
Finally, the involvement of the oil companies is likely to significantly harm the nature and ecosystem due to the way the oil is extracted, making beautiful scenery
turn into THIS!
The question one must ask is: is it justifiable for firms to threaten the environment, ecosystem and nature in order to maximise profits?