Visiting the Canadian oil sands

In May 2015, Professor Boggio traveled to Edmonton to attend the biannual meeting of the International Association for the Study of the Common. While in Alberta, he had the opportunity to visit the Athabasca oil sands, where bitumen (a liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum) is been extracted by surface mining.
The oil sands surround the urban area of Fort McMurray, which in May of 2016, has been affected be extensive wildfires. These wildfires affected the oil production operations and had significant impact for the local residents: they destroyed 2,400 structures, nearly 10 per cent of the city, and forced more than 80,000 residents to flee.
Here are some reflections of Professor Boggio a year after his visit.

Globalization and the frontier of industrialization

I wanted to visit the oil sands because of my interest in international business and law and regulation of the oil industry (the operations are controversial because of the impact they have had on the environment and aboriginal people). I was part of a group of conference attendees who were invited to enter to Syncrude's gates, which is oil company operating the bitumen mines.

It certainly was a powerful experience. There, I experienced the frontier of industrialization at the time of globalization. The land, which used to be scantly inhabited by First Nations, is now been converted to industrial production by a joint venture of Canadian, Chinese, Japanese and US investors. Miners work on the site 24/7 for 12 months a year, in an inhospitable environment, mostly on their own, operating huge machinery in the long and dusty nights of the Canadian winters.

A long line of busses (35 when I was there in 2015) can be seen along the 40 km road that connects Fort McMurray and Syncrude gates. These busses bring employees to the worksite to start their shift and then pick up those who are at the end of the workday and need to go back to their homes.

The city is soulless. The oil sands workers, mostly migrants, who go out do not have many options for recreational activities that do not involve alcohol. The salaries used to be very high and thus attractive to unskilled workers from all over the world. The decline in oil prices (from USD 53 to USD 31 a barrel) has had a massive effect on the region, with a loss of almost 20,000 jobs in 2015 alone (in previous years, employment was growing though).

A view of South Bison Hills located on Syncrude reclaimed land (image credit: Syncrude).

The hidden costs of our lifestyle

I came home feeling uncomfortable. Leaving aside the impacts for the environment and the original people, I experienced for a few hours the harsh living conditions of thousands of migrant workers. It resonated with my research on the asbestos industry and the oppressive working conditions that asbestos workers endured in the course of the 20th century all over the world (and still endure in some countries).
The company itself does not seem to be the problem: its conduct of business seems reasonable (I expected more pollution and dirt) and the product that comes our of the oil sans is something that we (the residents of North America, Europe and the more advanced economies) desperately need to sustain our lifestyles. That's where the problem seems to lie: in the demand.
The experience made me reflect on the hidden costs of our lifestyle and my role as a scholar and educator on bringing these issues to the attention of more audiences so that we make better informed choices in our daily lives and possible diminish the impact of our lifestyles on those (oil workers and local communities) who make it possible for us to enjoy our lifestyle without sharing much benefits.