An interesting profile of the Alberta tar sands by journalist Liam Bartlett from the Australian version of the 60 Minutes news program.
The relevance from the perspective down under is the possible exploitation of Australia’s extensive shale oil deposits once their offshore reserves (mainly in the Bass Strait between the mainland and Tasmania) are exhausted — around 2030 according to most estimates. As part of weighing up the costs associated with mining shale oil as an energy source, the environmental impacts of the oil sands are pointed to as something of a cautionary tale.
1 Comment
August 28, 2008 at 6:07 am
Shale oil’s a tougher nut to crack, I think.