Two years ago, the tar sands gained widespread negative publicity when hundreds of migrating ducks mistook one of these oily ponds for a safe, restful sanctuary, and died upon landing in it. Greenpeace broke into Syncrude, the oil consortium that owns the mines in the area and staged a protest complete with a skull banner and sign that read, “World’s Dirtiest Oil: Stop the Tar Sands”.
     But mining the tar sands hasn’t stopped. While the recession has dampened their expansion a bit, the long-term prospects remain frightening; an Energy Information Administration report from 2009 predicts a worst-case scenario of oil costs at $200 per barrel in 2030. At such a high return, it’s easy to predict whether or not the mining of the tar sands will continue. Last August, Obama approved a pipeline that will transport up to 800,000 barrels of oil a day from the tar sands to refineries as far away as Detroit, all but guaranteeing the tar sands a future.
     But there are still reasons for hope: both Whole Foods and Bed, Bath & Beyond have publicly protested the tar sands by pledging not to use any fuel derived from them. The tar sands have come up even in the context of the Winter Olympics; the Sierra Club’s US-based “Love Winter, Hate the Oil Sands” campaign has featured the voices of high-profile skiers and snowboarders protesting the global warming to which the tar sands’ high greenhouse gas emissions contribute. California recently passed a bill that forbade import of tar sands oil, and investors for both BP and Shell have loudly voiced complaints about the environmental damage, to which the companies have responded. As more people become aware of the sands, here’s hoping that they, too, contribute their voices in protest.