The Little Things Count

Limiting the extraction of oil would increase prices and slow the economy - which is the last thing the Global Warming skeptics want and of course some political parties and the oil companies. There aren't enough alternatives out there yet that can be used over large areas - it isn't an economically viable option, yet. Our hunger for oil is terrible, the US government authorized oil exploration and extraction in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. The oil reserves are just a few months worth of supply for the US. This to me, is unacceptable, in areas of broad biodiversity and all of the already protected areas, there should definitely be limited extraction of oil - limited to the point that it would illegal to mine in such areas.
More areas need to protected in North America certainly. Alaska may be oil rich but it's also the USA's last area of vast wilderness rich in biodiversity. Similar happens in Canada, there is great risk to the environment from such exploration of fossil fuels. I.e. Strip Mining the oil sands in Alberta Canada. Lush Boreal forest is taken up (and I would hope the wood is used for house building) to expose the oil sands where the extraction begins. Yes, I think there should be a limit on the extraction of oil, but until there is a viable alternative it is very unlikely to happen.Relevant studies are listed in the sources below.
Here are some facts:
Oil sands mining is licensed to use twice the amount of fresh water that the entire city of Calgary uses in a year.

• At least 90% of the fresh water used in the oil sands ends up in ends up in tailing ponds so toxic that propane cannons are used to keep ducks from landing in them.
• Processing the oil sands uses enough natural gas in a day to heat 3 million homes in Canada.
• The toxic tailing ponds are considered one of the largest human-made structures in the world. The ponds span 50 square kilometers and can be seen from space.
• Producing a barrel of oil from the oil sands produces three times more greenhouse gas emissions than a barrel of conventional oil.
  

Images:

http://image.guim.co.uk/Guardian/business/gallery/2007/dec/07/1/OilJeffMcIntoshAP-5881.jpg

http://www.borealbirds.org/images/tarsands3.jpg