Explain Why Oil Exploration in the Areas Shown Could Lead to High Economic and Environmental Costs.

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Explain why oil exploration in the areas shown could lead to high economic and environmental costs. (10) Oil exploration in the areas show brings many environmental and economical challenges with it. The economic cost can be very high due to the extraction techniques used as in the majority of the areas highlighted there are extraction issues due to technical difficulties such as unconventional oil, such as the Canadian Tar Sands and deep water see oil, such as in the Gulf of Mexico which is hard to access. The extraction costs for both these methods is very high and would need high oil prices to see a good return economically. To add to this these methods need vast amounts of energy for extraction, causing the high extraction cost and with this also pollute greatly as the oil is extracted and so raise CO2 and other GHG emissions before the fuel is even burnt. Some of the environmental cost in these areas would be evident. The Canadian Tar Sands, Arctic and the marine ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico are rich in biodiversity and pristine areas of wildlife and any spills of oil in these areas could be disastrous. The Arctic tundra is very sensitive to human interference and the Canadian Tar Sands is home to thousands of species of animals and is one of the largest bird migration centres in the world, millions of birds use this areas every year and groundwater depletion is another major problem as groundwater needs to be pumped out during mining operations otherwise flooding will occur. Reducing ground water levels will have consequences on the wider ecosystem and it will affect wetlands. Drilling in the Gulf of Mexico could damage the sea bed and even destroy ecosystems not even discovered yet. Also conflict over who will get the oil in the Arctic will be in dispute and will most likely be economically costly and large social conflicts with tribesmen there and
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