Extracting oil from Canada's tarry sand has lead to large incomes and huge environmental tolls for the holder of the world's second-largest oil reserves.
In 2003, it became economically feasible to extract oil from Canada's large expanses of tarry sand. By 2004, the oil sands had achieved their projected 20-year production level, and now Canada has the second largest oil reserves in the world, after Saudi Arabia. Economic and political fallout aside, the new sprawling oil fields have done irreversible damage to the local ecosystem, traditional economies of native populations, and unexpectedly degraded natural resources.
"The digging -- into an area the size of Maryland and Virginia combined -- has proliferated at gold-rush speed, spurred by high oil prices, new technology and an unquenched U.S. thirst for the fuel. The expansion has presented ecological problems that experts thought they would have decades to resolve."
FULL STORY: Canada Pays Environmentally for U.S. Oil Thirst
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
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Op-Ed: Why an Effective Passenger Rail Network Needs Government Involvement
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
New York City School Construction Authority
Village of Glen Ellyn
Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions