Alberta Drought Forecasted

The Globe and Mail is reporting that Dr. David Schindler and collaborator Will Donahoe have published a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The Globe predicts that the prairies, and Alberta in particular, are headed back to the dustbowl-type climate of the 1930s. Research into tree rings and algae deposits in sedimentary rock suggest that the climate was once much drier than it is today. With the combination of global warming and massive industrial and agricultural water use Alberta’s fresh water reserves are rapidly being consumed much faster than the weather can replenish them.

 So now, that’s water and natural gas both in short supply in the future. What does the production of synthetic crude from tar sands require as inputs again?

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