I'm a lead Piping Designer in Calgary. I have lived in Ft. Murray for 5 yrs. from 1980 – 1985, & often the Canadian hotspot for day temperatures. I have been out riding my dirt bike along the Athabasca river & saw with my own eyes, how the tar sands are heated by the sun, runs down the bank & directly into the river!

Looked at from a different perspective, we are helping the environment by taking the oil out of the ground near the river to stop the natural flow of oil into the river.

Maybe Neil Young would promote that point of view , if he knew about it?

I'm currently working on a project for Cenovus Energy. 45,000 bbl./day SAGD Plant, three phases to produce 135k bbl./day.

THE INDUSTRY HAS ABANDONDED OPEN PIT MINING! Yes, clean up still continues & the wood buffalo now roam again in the FT. Mc Murray area, put they by the Canadian blue chip oil sands mining companies.

The SAGD process has eliminated the surface destruction relatively speaking.

Very similar in principal to Eagles Nest underground mine, very small foot print in comparison to an open pit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam-assisted_gravity_drainage

https://www.google.ca/search?q=sagd&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=xK6hU6KkL8T2oATi_oKICQ&sqi=2&ved=0CDUQsAQ&biw=1332&bih=728

We are comparing apples to apples when talking Oil sands SAGD to underground mining.

Once again, facts are critical to the development balance between environment & Canadian GDP.

Hebe