Today, Outside Magazine released a piece of investigative journalism written by Ted Genoways. The article chronicles the tar sands of Canada and the impact that extraction has had on the environment over the years, especially post-Iraq invasion in 2003.
Tar sands is the sludgy form of petroleum that would travel through the Keystone XL pipeline from extraction points in Alberta, Canada to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast, should Obama approve the pipeline's route.
The article is timely. Republicans now have control of both the House and the Senate, and will likely be pushing President Obama to approve the route. Hopefully, with the release of this article to aid the effort, people will begin to realize just how severe the impact of tar sands can be on the environment.
Residents of Alberta have already taken notice, and have been feeling the impacts of tar sands extraction for over a decade now. Residents claim that toxic waste that is a byproduct of the extraction is leaking into lakes and streams, harming the ecosystem and making the water dangerous to drink. Some even claim people have been dying unexpectedly of rare, aggressive forms of cancer.
To read the article in full, visit The High Cost of Oil in Outside Magazine.