GEO 225: Canadian Geography

Alberta's Lower Athabasca Basin tells a fascinating story of how a catastrophic ice age flood left behind a unique landscape in the Lower Athabasca Basin, one that made deposits of bitumen available for surface mining. Touching on various elements of this rich environmental and archaeological record, the contributors to this volume offer new insights into human and natural history.

In probing the impact of Alberta's powerful oil lobby on the health of democracy in the province, contributors to the volume engage with an ongoing discussion of the erosion of political liberalism in the West. In addition to examining energy policy and issues of government accountability in Alberta, they explore the ramifications of oil dependence in areas such as Aboriginal rights, environmental policy, labour law, women's equity, urban social policy, and the arts.

Using research that integrates the economic, political, scientific, and business factors that have been influential in discovering and developing the sands, this book provides a comprehensive history of the oil sands project and a window on the nature of the complex relationships between industry, government, and transnational players. This book is the first comprehensive volume to examine the origins and development of the oil sands industry over the last century.

Includes relevant chapter: "The Athabasca Tar Sands"

Includes relevant chapter: "‘All against the Haul’: The Long Road to the Athabasca Tar Sands"

Includes relevant chapter: "Health and Environmental Risk Perception in the Athabasca Oil Sands"