This article was taken from the April 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Ever wondered where the toxic waste from processing tar sand goes? New York photographer J Henry Fair has been logging such "industrial scars" to raise awareness of the resulting pollution. He shot these images from chartered planes between 2005 and 2010. "We see pictures of oil-covered pelicans and we turn the page," says Fair. "To catch our eye, they have to beautiful, despite the subject matter."
Tar-sand oil -- Alberta, Canada
The roof of this tank of oil at Fort McMurray's plant in Alberta may look corroded and rusty, but its manufacturer has assured Fair that it's in fully operational condition. The tank can hold up to 450,000 barrels of oil that has been "upgraded" from tar sand.
According to Canada's Ministry of the Environment, Alberta will double its current production over the next ten years to more than 1.8 million barrels a day, levelling more than 700,000 acres of forest.
Tissue slurry -- Ontario, Canada
This man-made lake in Terrace Bay, Ontario, Canada, is more than 500 metres long. It's an aeration pond, part of the waste-treatment system at a factory that produces pulp for Kimberly-Clark tissues. "The treated water is returned to its source -- often a river," says Fair. Each yellow cone is an "agitator" that aerates and churns the liquid, assisting its breakdown. According to Worldwatch Institute figures, if recycled paper was used instead, 64 per cent less energy would be needed.
Fertiliser -- Louisiana, US
This emerald-tinted lake near Geismar, Louisiana, includes gypsum, uranium and radium. These chemicals result from manufacturing phosphorous fertiliser and are dumped into this impoundment to solidify. The world's supplies of phosphates are dwindling and most are located in the US, China and Morocco. Unlike oil, however, there is no known renewable alternative for making fertiliser. "You think the resource crisis is in oil?" says Fair. "Think again."
Spilled oil -- Gulf of Mexico, US
Fair captured this shot over the BP Deepwater Horizon spill at the Macondo well in June 2010, when 750m litres of oil leaked into the Gulf. "The stuff that was coming out of that well was all different colours," says Fair. "We think of crude oil as being black -- it's all kinds of different colours and consistencies." The bright red is the crude on the surface, reflecting light. The less viscous oil below the surface is purple-brown.
Liquid sulphur -- Alberta, Canada
At Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada, a blood-red vein of liquid sulphur is pumped on to a bed of solidified yellow sulphur. The element is one of the major by-products of tar-sand upgrading and there is now an abundance of stocks globally. With prices low, producer Syncrude isn't selling -- it's storing it in giant pyramids. Liquid sulphur, at around 200°C (its melting point is 115°C), is pumped into fenced-off compounds and left to harden.
Aluminium sludge -- Louisiana, US
This slurry pit is where the solid and liquid by-products of aluminium manufacture are separated. The process involves refining bauxite ore, which produces alumina. The waste includes bauxite impurities, heavy metals and sodium hydroxide (one of the chemicals used during processing). Fair estimates that the red-brown sludge has a pH of about 13, "meaning if you touch it, it burns the skin off".
Fertiliser slurry -- Louisiana, US
This wintry-looking scene is a mix of lead, ammonia, mercury and ethanol -- by-products of phosphate fertiliser production. "It's a giant lake of waste," says Fair, who shot the image 80km west of New Orleans in 2005. Owned by Mosaic Fertilizers, the plant, called Uncle Sam, has violated the US Clean Water Act nine times. The slurry pit is less than 3km from the banks of the Mississippi.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
