Teaching the World to Make Their Own Tar Sands Disasters

If We Can Do It, They Can Too

Canada has always been a world leader.   Now, according to The Tyee, we're teaching the world that they too can be Tar Sanders.

Huge unconventional fuel reserves -- extra heavy crude, oil sands and oil shale -- lie untapped across the globe. These resources emit much more carbon than regular oil, causing green groups to call them climate killers. So far, only a small fraction of the planet's unconventional oil has been tapped. Most countries lack the necessary capital, technology and expertise.

But Canada is helping to change that. The Alberta oil sands -- where sludgy bitumen is mined or steamed from the ground, then cooked or diluted with chemicals -- have become an unconventional oil extraction classroom.

Energy companies from around the world are learning valuable lessons in the northern muskeg. They're now eyeing reserves in Africa, Europe, Latin America, the U.S. and the Middle East. Some operations have begun producing. Others could start shortly.