Thank you, Madam Chair.
As a proud Albertan, I am very happy to say that we pride ourselves on the steps taken to protect the environment when acquiring our natural resources. The information I am about to share is from some key facts from the Government of Canada as recently as July 2017.
For example, first, per-barrel greenhouse gas emissions have decreased as a result of technological advancements in the oil sands. They have helped to create more energy-efficient practices and to decrease GHG emissions in the oil sands. One of the most important mechanisms used to achieve this is cogeneration, a process where steam and electricity are produced simultaneously. By converting energy and by-product into electricity that would otherwise be waste, cogeneration has contributed significantly to the 30% decrease in per-barrel GHG emissions seen in the oil sands since 1990.
In addition, it would seem that most GHG emissions come from our cars. While GHGs are emitted in the extraction phase of the crude oil production process, most of the life-cycle emissions of fuel actually come from vehicles' tailpipes. Final combustion of gasoline emerging from your tailpipe accounts for approximately 70% to 80% of well-to-wheel life-cycle emissions. These vehicle emissions are the same, of course, regardless of the crude oil from which the gasoline is derived.
The third point would be that, specifically relevant to oil sands, tailing pond technology is improving significantly. Oil sand extraction results in the accumulation of large amounts of residual waste known as “tailings”, which contain a mixture of water, clay, unrecovered bitumen and solvent, and dissolved chemicals, including some organic compounds that are toxic. These tailings are stored in large ponds similar to water dams. The water released from these ponds can be recycled and reused in oil sands processing. However, the majority remains as mud.