Land Use Impacts
There are currently over 100,000 km of linear developments in the Al-Pac FMA, with an average density of 1.8 km/km2. If forestry activity persists at current levels, and if the energy sector expands at expected rates, the average density of linear developments will increase to over 5.0 km/km2. This trend would have negative effects on many species. For example, woodland caribou habitat quality in the study area has declined by 23% over the past several decades, with further declines expected if trends in industrial development continue.
Considering the operation site, it appears that surface mining techniques disturb much more surface area than in situ operations. However, this does not take into account the fact that 4 times as much natural gas is required per barrel of bitumen for the in situ process. This means that 4 times as much natural gas infrastructure is required as well. One of the biggest impacts of land use is the fragmentation of land. Therefore, surface area is less important than the linear distance within a given area.
A more thorough analysis that includes the impact of land fragmentation is required to provide a more robust comparison between the two options for extracting oil sands resources. This analysis could be carried out by obtaining remote sensing data images for the Alberta area. A tool such as IKONOS could provide satellite data at various levels of spatial resolution. This data could be used to create land cover and land use maps. Metrics could be determined to measure the impact of fragmentation on the area of interest. Software tools such as FRAGSTATS would interpret the land use/cover maps to provide such results. The Wilderness Society Study used ArcView 3.2 and RoadNET.
Several studies in Alberta using remote sensing for the natural gas and oil industries have been found. These include the use of remote sensing for monitoring gas pipeline right of ways. However, a study that looks at the fragmentation of land in Alberta due to natural gas and oil operations has not yet been found.
Paper in progress
Alberta’s oil sands occur beneath 140,000 square kilometres of the boreal eco-region and are extracted using surface mining and in situ extraction technologies. In situ technologies appear to disturb less land than do surface mining in area to area comparisons. Yet in situ technologies significantly fragment landscapes and require more natural gas than do surface mining and upgrading. Landscapes are fragmented upstream when natural gas is purchased for use in the oil sands industry. In this assessment, both direct and peripheral effects of oil sands land use are examined by quantifying edge effects of key life cycle stages per unit synthetic crude oil produced. With a life cycle perspective, it is shown that the land area disturbed by in situ technology is comparable to land disturbed by surface mining when fragmentation and upstream natural gas production are included in the analysis. This approach enables a comparison of land disturbance between spatially compact and diffuse activities when the products of each are interchangeable. The method might, for example, be applied to a comparison between coal mining and natural gas production when both fuels are used to generate electricity.
Proposed work
To provide some context for the land use associated with oil sands development, this land use will be compared to estimates for conventional oil, corn from ethanol, and coal-to-liquids. This work will involve both a quantitative comparison of these fuels as well as a qualitative discussion of the trade-offs that are inherent to the decision between these fuels. Finally, stakeholders will be interviewed in order to assess how current and proposed land use policies best meet their objectives in land use decision making in the context of reducing impacts associated with life cycle land use of oil sands development.
For more information on this part of the project please contact Sarah Jordaan.