The Environment

Exploitation of the Natural World

VOCABULARY a well acidic

acreage adverse environmental damage air quality
atmosphere bore clear-cutting
collapse concentrations of heavy metals construction
crops disrupt diversity
drilling earth ecological
eliminate engineers environmentally destructive
erosion excavated exploration
forecast forest canopy fossil fuels 
generate toxic compounds geologists global climate
grasses grazing animals greenhouse gas emissions
ground harmful harvesting
impact impacts Industrial Revolution
large scale mining  lethal livestock
local environment logging mining
mud nomadic nutrients
oil sands open-air pit operators and regulators
oxygen-poor perforations  permanent
petroleum reserve planet rain forest
reduction target renewable renewable resource
renewed replanted reserves
reservoir  residential areas resource extraction
risk management runoff runoff water
shrubs silviculture small scale mining 
substances subsurface sustainable
tar sands temperatures to protect the surrounding environment
valuable commodities vehicle and pedestrian traffic waste management
yield

Resource Extraction
From Encyclopedia.com
Introduction
Resource extraction refers to activities that involve withdrawing materials from the natural environment.
Logging is one example of resource extraction. If not done in a sustainable manner, logging extracts trees
and their removal causes other changes that can result in soil and nutrient removal from the logged area.
Even if it is accomplished sustainably, logging changes an environment.
Mining that involves the creation of an open-air pit is another example of resource extraction. Other
examples include the oil sands project (the extraction of oil-laden sediment from regions of the Canadian
province of Alberta), and the more conventional processes of oil recovery.
In contrast to logging, where trees (a renewable resource) can be replanted and nurtured to permit
lumbering for a long time, oil extraction is permanent. Fossil fuels that have taken millions of years to
develop cannot be renewed. Indeed, agencies including the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have forecast
that the amount of recoverable oil will peak and then begin to decline before the year 2100.
Efforts to minimize the environmental damage of resource extraction can be challenging, as the economic
benefits of activities such as logging, mining, and the oil sands are considerable. For example, some critics
of the oil sands project in Alberta have condemned the minimal restrictions placed on greenhouse gas

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emissions by the provincial and federal governments.

Historical Background and Scientific Foundations
Resource extraction activities have been practiced for thousands of years. Archaeological evidence
indicates that 6,000 years ago Egyptians mined by building a fire against a rock face and then dousing the
fire with cold water to split the rock. The use of gunpowder to blast away rock dates back to 1617 in
Germany. Open-pit mining is a more recent development, since sophisticated machinery is needed to
expose the subsurface material and to haul it away.
Logging dates back to the use of land to raise crops and livestock. In North America, this began in the 1820s
on the East Coast and near the end of that century as settlement from Europe expanded westward.
Clear-cutting—the type of logging in which nearly all or all trees in a given area are removed —is a
resource extractive practice on several levels. Complete removal of the forest canopy exposes the ground
to more sunlight, which can dry the soil. Also, competition for nutrients becomes more intense as fast-
growing shrubs and grasses grow and grazing animals move into the area.
On another level, removing trees can increase the surface movement of water, which can increase
erosion. Along with directly extracting the soil, erosion removes more nutrients from the environment.
Flow of soil into streams, rivers, and lakes occurs more easily, which can stimulate the increased use of
oxygen. As a result, the water can become too oxygen-poor to support fish and plant life.
Operations such as open pit mining and the Alberta tar sands project extensively disrupt the surface. In the
case of the tar sands, efforts are made to repair the damage. However, the result will not be the same as
the environment prior to the extraction of the oil-laden sediment. More importantly, both operations
generate toxic compounds that can escape to the environment. The runoff water from mines and the
leftover material can be extremely acidic and can contain concentrations of heavy metals that are lethal to
many forms of life.
Impacts and Issues
Clear-cutting can be accomplished faster and less expensively than a tree-by-tree survey and harvesting of
a forest. However, the consequences of the clear-cut approach to logging includes erosion, reduced
diversity of life in the logged region, and loss of the forest canopy—all of which can be environmentally
destructive.
The loss of trees reduces the ability of a forest to retain carbon dioxide. As a result, more of this potent
greenhouse gas is released into the atmosphere; the increased warming of the atmosphere since the time
of the Industrial Revolution, which began in the late-eighteenth century, has been conclusively linked to
increased atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Thus, resource extraction not
only has a local effect, but influences the global climate.
The Brazilian rain forest, for example, which makes up 30% of the total acreage of rain forest on the planet,
is being logged at a rate that if continued could eliminate the forest entirely by 2050.
The oil sands also damage the global environment due to the generation of carbon dioxide in the
processing of the extracted oil. Although the Canadian government has committed to reducing Canada’s
greenhouse-gas emissions by 20% by 2020, the oil sands project has been given approval for expansion,
and the resulting increased production of greenhouse gases could make the reduction target difficult to
achieve.
WORDS TO KNOW
EROSION: The wearing away of the soil or rock over time.
RENEWABLE RESOURCE: Any resource that is renewed or replaced fairly rapidly (on human historical time-
scales) by natural or managed processes.

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RUNOFF: Water that falls as precipitation and then runs over the surface of the land rather than sinking
into the ground.
SILVICULTURE: Management of the development, composition, and long-term health of a forest
ecosystem. The objective is often to allow logging of the forest over many years.

What is mining?
Adapted from Mongabay

Mining is the extraction (removal) of minerals and metals from earth.  Manganese, tantalum, cassiterite,
copper, tin, nickel, bauxite (aluminium ore), iron ore, gold, silver, and diamonds are just some examples of
what is mined. 
Why mine?
Mining is a money-making business.  Not only do mining companies prosper, but governments also make
money from revenues.  Workers also receive income and benefits. 

What are the minerals and metals used for?

Minerals and metals are very valuable commodities.  For example, manganese is a key component of low-
cost stainless steel.  It is also used to de-colour glass (removing greenish hues), but in higher
concentrations, it actually makes lavender-coloured glass.  Tantalum is used in cell phones, pagers, and lap-
tops.  Copper and tin are used to make pipes, cookware, etc.  And gold, silver, and diamonds are used to
make jewellery. 
Large scale mining versus small scale mining:
Large scale mining usually involves a company with many employees.  The company mines at one or two
large sites and usually stays until the mineral or metal is completely excavated.  An example of a large scale
mine is the Serra Pelada mine in Brazil which yielded 29,000 tons of gold from 1980 to 1986 and employed
50,000 workers (Kricher, 1997).
Small scale mining usually involves a small group of nomadic men.  They travel together and look for sites
which they think will yield gold or another valuable metal or mineral.  Small scale mining occurs in places
such as Suriname, Guyana, Central Africa, and many other places around the world.  Some researchers
believe that small scale mining is more harmful to the environment and causes more social problems than
large scale mining. 

Drilling
Definition
Drilling is a process whereby a hole is bored using a drill bit to create a well for oil and natural gas
production.  There are various kinds of oil wells with different functions:
 Exploration wells (or wildcat wells) are drilled for exploration purposes in new areas. The location of
the exploration well is determined by geologists.  
 Appraisal wells are those drilled to assess the characteristics of a proven petroleum reserve such as
flow rate.
 Development or production wells are drilled for the production of oil or gas in fields of proven
economic and recoverable oil or gas reserves.
 Relief wells are drilled to stop the flow from a reservoir when a production well has experienced a
blowout.
 An injection well is drilled to enable petroleum engineers to inject steam, carbon dioxide and other
substances into an oil producing unit so as to maintain reservoir pressure or to lower the viscosity of

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the oil, allowing it to flow into a nearby well.

The process of drilling an oil and natural gas production well involves several important steps:
 Boring - a drill bit and pipe are used to create a hole vertically into the ground.  Sometimes, drilling
operations cannot be completed directly above an oil or gas reservoir, for example, when reserves are
situated under residential areas. Fortunately, a process called directional drilling can be done to bore
a well at an angle. This process is done by boring a vertical well and then angling it towards the
reservoir. 
 Circulation - drilling mud is circulated into the hole and back to the surface for various functions
including the removal of rock cuttings from the hole and the maintenance of working temperatures
and pressures.
 Casing - once the hole is at the desired depth, the well requires a cement casing to prevent collapse.
 Completion - after a well has been cased, it needs to be readied for production.  Small holes
called perforations are made in the portion of the casing which passed through the production zone,
to provide a path for the oil or gas to flow.
 Production - this is the phase of the well's life where it actually produces oil and/or gas.
 Abandonment - when a well has reached the end of its useful life (this is usually determined by
economics), it is plugged and abandoned to protect the surrounding environment.

Context
Drilling is a relatively well-understood technological process but no two wells are the same and therefore
risk management is important.  The largest mainstream concern with drilling is the risk of blowouts, which
is the uncontrolled release of oil and natural gas from a well due to issues with pressure management.
With modern technology blowouts are preventable.  However, a high level of diligence is required by
operators and regulators to ensure this does not happen.
In addition to this, there are a wide array of drilling activities that can cause adverse environmental
impacts. For example, ground clearing can have adverse effects on the ecological surroundings. Air quality
and waste management from construction and during drilling can be an issue. The increase and vehicle and
pedestrian traffic also creates an impact on the local environment.
_______________________________________________________________________________________

A-removing trees can increase :

1- the surface movement of water= erosion
2- Dry soil
3- Oxygen poor water
4- Reducing diversity
5- Global climate change

B- Important words:
EROSION
RENEWABLE RESOURCE
RUNOFF(yüzey akış)
SILVICULTURE(AĞAÇLANDIRMA)

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C- Risks of drilling:
1- Blowout
2-

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