A reliquary for fossil fuels

Inspired by the Tar Sands … and the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

Beneath the forest in northern Alberta, Canada lies one of the world’s largest deposits of “tar sand”, a substance of sand mixed with a thick, tar-like oil called bitumen.  In order to produce 1 barrel of heavy crude oil from tar sands the following steps are required:

Strip-mining the forest,

Extracting 4 tons of earth,

Contaminating 2 to 4 barrels of fresh water,

Burning large amounts of natural gas,

And creating vast holding ponds of toxic sludge.

At the moment, the Alberta region has over 65 square miles of toxic waste ponds created from harvesting the tar sand.  These mining scars can be seen from outer space.

Currently, our administration is considering building a pipeline for this material.  The Keystone XL proposal would cross the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the world’s largest and most pristine freshwater aquifer, which provides 30% of the ground water used for irrigation in the United States, and drinking water for millions of Americans.

The pipeline would travel from Canada through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and terminate on the Texas Gulf Coast.

Tar Sand is the hardest oil to extract because it’s embedded in sand.  When attempting to transport the highly corrosive, acidic, and potentially unstable blend of thick raw bitumen it is mixed with natural gas condensate, which dramatically increases the risks of spills and damage to communities in its path.  This is the main reason Canadians are refusing to build a pipeline in their own country.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the main devices used to clean up conventional oil spills are tools like booms, skimmers, and absorbent materials, which recover oil from the surface of the water.  However, tar sand is not like conventional oil because the “sand” is heavier than water—making it sink.  This makes spills riskier and much harder to clean because the oil could sink and enter water tables and wetland sediments.

 Domain: Eminent is a reliquary to the many fossil fuels we have used to build our world.  This installation intends to honor the beauty and benefits these fuels have brought to our world while at the same time symbolically putting them to their “restful” space as an untouched material.