Researchers at the University of Alberta say oil sands companies aren’t telling the whole story on reclamation.
A study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says the industry is wrong to claim that the forests they plant are as good, if not better, than the boreal forest it replaces.
The study says that the new planted forests won’t have the same wetland areas that the original landscape had, which will mean less carbon dioxide being captured.
In all, the study shows that between 57 hundred and 72 hundred metric tons of carbon per year will no longer be captured.
Published March 12, 2012
