The Environmental Impacts of Exploitation of Oil Shales and Tar Sands

The present report deals with the environmental impacts of exploitation of oil shales and tar sands. In undertaking this review, a great deal of information had to be gathered and scrutinized. In many cases, data had to be re-calculated to standardize the environmental impacts presented, on the basis of production of 50,000 barrels/day of syncrude, which is the general capacity of plants under construction or planned.