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U.S. 'dirty oil' imports set to triple

CNN -- U.S. imports of what environmentalists are calling "dirty oil" are set to triple over the next decade, raising concerns over the environmental impact of extracting it and whether pipelines can safely transport this Canadian oil.

The United States currently imports over half a million barrels a day of bitumen from Canada's oil sands region, according to the Sierra Club. That number, Sierra Club says is set to grow to over 1.5 million barrels by 2020. That represents nearly 10% of the country's current consumption.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration's overall Canadian oil production numbers are in-line with the Sierra Club's projected pace.

Bitumen is a heavy, tar-like oil. It needs to be heavily processed in order to be turned into more viscous, easier to refine, crude oi

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Submitted Apr 30, 2012 By: stpetebp

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SammyAdams Champion Author Tallahassee Posts:3,057 Points:793,605 Joined:Nov 2010	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 10:00:12 PM Ignore SammyAdams Report Abuse To: aquarinut Re: Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 9:52:59 PM (Printed below) "Sierra Club is nothing but a marketing scam for those higher up the ladder in their own eco food chain. Check out their eco "friendly" outings... absolutely no suggestions or help on how to get to them in an environmentally friendly way. But boy do you pay big time for the outing!!! Any media spouting is to secure more funds from current members and recruit new members into a corporate organization by hype and fear mongering!" ==================================================================== It's true. These extreme environmentalist groups use hype and fear mongering to recruit new members and advance their cause. And we are talking BILLION$ of dollars in assets.
aquarinut Champion Author British Columbia Posts:1,628 Points:436,855 Joined:Jul 2011	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 8:52:59 PM Ignore aquarinut Report Abuse Sierra Club is nothing but a marketing scam for those higher up the ladder in their own eco food chain. Check out their eco "friendly" outings... absolutely no suggestions or help on how to get to them in an environmentally friendly way. But boy do you pay big time for the outing!!! Any media spouting is to secure more funds from current members and recruit new members into a corporate organization by hype and fear mongering!
orphancarguyPE Champion Author PEI Posts:3,853 Points:735,965 Joined:Jan 2011	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 7:44:17 PM Ignore orphancarguyPE Report Abuse Its true as far as it goes, but what is conveniently overlooked by SC is that American tight oil found imbedded in tiny droplets in rock formations is just about as 'dirty' as tar sands is 'dirty'--it all depends how you define the word dirty. Here is a different way---ERoEI (sometimes just called EROI) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_returned_on_energy_invested Cheap conventional oil in the OLD days had an ERoEI of up to 100:1 one barrel used netted you 100 TO use. Now, everything is in the single digits to 1 and falling ie 5:1, 4:1, 3:1 and less. When it gets to 1.01:1, you have to burn 100 barrels to get 101. One extra barrel for all your trouble. Things will stop well before then. New difficult, expensive oil requires a lot of energy in (especially in oil and natural gas USED in the process) to get anything out, be it tar sands, deep ocean far offshore, Alaska high arctic or tight oil. That is why it is difficult, and expensive and very very dirty. The bitumen can be cleaned up. The energy costs cannot. This is nothing new. As it points out, that is why the Roman Empire fell--upside down in ERoEI. When forests have been clearcut, times were bleak until coal was found and exploited. Most of the coal that is left is falling sharply worldwide in ERoEI, especially since the "EI" has to include the cleanup costs. Oil replaced coal for a century or so, but it too is failing. Note the interesting about wind. It might not be 'dense' very adaptable energy like coal or oil, but it has a great ERoEI of 20:1 (still not very adaptable--like you can't fly planes on electricity etc-- but it is a good bang for the buck in other words) But getting back to the Sierra Club...if not dirty tar sands and dirty shale oil, where is there enough clean oil to make the transition OFF oil? You can't avoid that question, either the transition OR the time factor. The biggest thing that (realisticly) we have to be "extremely worried" about is the "Energy Trap" as in: http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/2011/10/the-energy-trap/ Unfortunately, only a small percentage of people will 'get it' before its too late. [Edited by: orphancarguyPE at 4/30/2012 8:46:56 PM EST]
drpepperTX Champion Author Texas Posts:8,950 Points:753,185 Joined:Apr 2011	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 6:28:48 PM Ignore drpepperTX Report Abuse Teafertwo, the info from the article is Sierra Club bull feces.
teafortwo Champion Author Washington Posts:22,117 Points:1,386,065 Joined:Feb 2009	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 3:07:04 PM Ignore teafortwo Report Abuse FROM THE ARTICLE: Bitumen is a heavy, tar-like oil. It needs to be heavily processed in order to be turned into lighter, easier to refine, crude oil. Because bitumen is so thick, to make it more fluid and easier to move by pipeline, it gets diluted with natural gas liquids. Besides the sheer amount of energy and water needed to process and extract bitumen, environmentalists say it's more dangerous to move because it's more corrosive to pipelines than regular crude. While the industry maintains bitumen is safe, the danger of transporting it is one of the reasons there is so much opposition to the Keystone pipeline expansion, which is supposed to carry it, among other oil products.
des7902 Veteran Author Virginia Posts:385 Points:212,240 Joined:May 2011	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 11:07:24 AM Ignore des7902 Report Abuse Don't believe the tree huggers on this one.
rjojo40 Champion Author Las Vegas Posts:7,384 Points:1,076,615 Joined:Feb 2004	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 11:04:27 AM Ignore rjojo40 Report Abuse Focus on Natural gas. We have plenty of it. Lets make Natural Gas the norm.
VomVom Champion Author Calgary Posts:3,857 Points:1,627,080 Joined:May 2007	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 10:29:23 AM Ignore VomVom Report Abuse drpepper is right. The Canadian dilbit is no different than the dilbit imported from Veneuzla and the dilbit produced from the oil sands of East Utah. The Sierra Club continues to use false information and fearmongering tactics to advance its cause. [Edited by: VomVom at 4/30/2012 11:29:53 AM EST]
miser709 Champion Author Grand Rapids Posts:1,268 Points:1,070,800 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 10:23:22 AM Ignore miser709 Report Abuse "Because bitumen is so thick, to make it more fluid and easier to move by pipeline, it gets diluted with natural gas liquids". Just use natural gas ONLY and remove our dependence on foreign oil. We are the Saudi Arabia of natural gas, we need to use our own resources and keep the money in the USA. I would buy a natural gas vehicle.
drpepperTX Champion Author Texas Posts:8,950 Points:753,185 Joined:Apr 2011	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 9:14:16 AM Ignore drpepperTX Report Abuse What a load of bull feces Sierra Club keeps pushing out. They have said the oil in the pipeline is heated. WRONG. In a line like Keystone oil comes in at temps between 80-120°F. The oil stays within that temperature range during transport. The changes in temperature are the result of friction, the length of pipeline, the season and weather conditions. The Canadian oil is very similar to oil that is already being transported and processed by other pipelines and refineries across the United States and have been for decades. Really, it looks more and more like the opposition to the Keystone XL is more about the fear that the pipeline could actually push overall gasoline prices DOWN in the U.S.
Nancy&Len Champion Author Cleveland Posts:2,058 Points:1,946,790 Joined:Sep 2004	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 8:16:15 AM Ignore Nancy&Len Report Abuse Okay
Eugene_C Champion Author Columbus Posts:2,299 Points:155,995 Joined:Mar 2004	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 8:08:51 AM Ignore Eugene_C Report Abuse That's because most of the "clean oil" is gone and most of what is left is "dirty" oil.
fracknsave Champion Author Grand Rapids Posts:1,666 Points:58,000 Joined:Mar 2012	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 8:06:23 AM Ignore fracknsave Report Abuse Living with your only focus on utopia does cloud reality.
A2J Champion Author Richmond Posts:3,080 Points:603,925 Joined:Aug 2011	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 8:06:10 AM Ignore A2J Report Abuse triple ???
TXRanger09 Champion Author Dallas Posts:2,511 Points:892,150 Joined:May 2009	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 8:03:41 AM Ignore TXRanger09 Report Abuse And the Canadians haven't built a refinery near the tar sands why?!
nj2000ng Champion Author Houston Posts:1,507 Points:449,020 Joined:Jan 2010	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 8:01:58 AM Ignore nj2000ng Report Abuse whatever.
Buckeyee Champion Author Maine Posts:4,611 Points:900,600 Joined:May 2010	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 8:01:28 AM Ignore Buckeyee Report Abuse Yes Sierra Club, ban all oil, then we can start to cut the trees in the national forest to heat our homes in winter. Another good idea, Oh Ban those wind mills too, they hurt birds too.
ziyulu Champion Author Oklahoma City Posts:8,504 Points:1,603,850 Joined:Aug 2007	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 8:01:15 AM Ignore ziyulu Report Abuse Define "dirty". Dirty in that it causes pollution? Or dirty in that it is handled by unethical people?
Goatroper Champion Author Dallas Posts:6,604 Points:1,295,435 Joined:Apr 2004	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 7:54:36 AM Ignore Goatroper Report Abuse A little here and a little there and it adds up.
manbig13 Champion Author Cleveland Posts:1,431 Points:556,725 Joined:May 2011	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 7:53:41 AM Ignore manbig13 Report Abuse where is my hydrogen
BurntOrange Champion Author Austin Posts:8,733 Points:1,583,990 Joined:Nov 2007	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 7:44:32 AM Ignore BurntOrange Report Abuse I like it dirty.
Joeski1 Champion Author New Jersey Posts:10,007 Points:1,742,810 Joined:Dec 2004	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 7:23:02 AM Ignore Joeski1 Report Abuse Is there clean oil? Or is there dirty oil and dirtier oil?
johntxx Champion Author Texas Posts:2,784 Points:617,070 Joined:Aug 2011	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 7:22:19 AM Ignore johntxx Report Abuse Well, the environmentalist has got the same last name. Related to Karl? Sorry but I have to go with the common sense from the article: "More importantly, the industry says the pipeline companies would not agree to carry this stuff if it really was destroying their systems. "No pipeline operator would want to spend billions of dollars to transport something their pipeline can't handle," said Andy Black, president of the U.S.-based Association of Oil Pipe Lines."
lcleveland Champion Author San Antonio Posts:2,666 Points:652,025 Joined:May 2011	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 7:20:12 AM Ignore lcleveland Report Abuse ok
grandmacbc Champion Author Buffalo Posts:6,540 Points:1,430,775 Joined:Oct 2008	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 7:18:54 AM Ignore grandmacbc Report Abuse I say these environmentalists should come up with affordable alternatives instead of just putting out their propaganda.
wildddkattt80 Champion Author Phoenix Posts:2,143 Points:432,145 Joined:Jun 2011	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 7:16:08 AM Ignore wildddkattt80 Report Abuse Anything to get us away from middle east oil
uatide13 Rookie Author Alabama Posts:23 Points:13,490 Joined:Apr 2012	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 7:15:04 AM Ignore uatide13 Report Abuse Good
jpgilmor Champion Author Houston Posts:2,170 Points:604,925 Joined:Feb 2011	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 7:15:03 AM Ignore jpgilmor Report Abuse and yet environmentalists still drive……
dgerst Champion Author South Carolina Posts:2,715 Points:557,000 Joined:Aug 2008	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 7:09:45 AM Ignore dgerst Report Abuse So would you want to live near a refinery that is refining this dirty oil?
Evilmaddog Champion Author British Columbia Posts:3,327 Points:958,525 Joined:Aug 2010	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 7:09:43 AM Ignore Evilmaddog Report Abuse People still love throwing money to those crazy Arabs
itzagasgasgas1 Champion Author Cincinnati Posts:3,979 Points:1,600,470 Joined:Aug 2005	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 7:08:30 AM Ignore itzagasgasgas1 Report Abuse This is the elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about. Commonly referred to as oil sands but more accurately described as tar sands. And what happens to the byproducts of refining? Where does the nasty stuff go?
carpenter4u Champion Author Virginia Posts:2,436 Points:617,145 Joined:Jul 2011	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 7:07:41 AM Ignore carpenter4u Report Abuse if the oil company can notmake a profit refining "dirty oil", there would be no market for it
alex395 Champion Author Louisville Posts:2,050 Points:276,710 Joined:Jan 2007	Message Posted: Apr 30, 2012 7:07:22 AM Ignore alex395 Report Abuse Don't believe anything the Sierra Club has to say. Agenda will not allow objective analysis.