HO;
As an additional side note on the Tar Sands, Yes you can see the tailings ponds, I've been there and saw first hand, as well as google earthing it! Those white sandy beaches in Google Earth are clay beaches. Here is the problem, You cannot filter or remove clay from water, you can remove a percentage, however on a high volume daily basis, the "fines" add up. In the words of an oil industry executive "If you find a way of removeing 100% of the clay,.. you are god & patent it!"

I happen to operatate a much smaller clay separating unit from Cetco which is a subsidary Company for Amcol Int. We are slowly plugging up the sewer lines, even though we dual filter it, that is the liquid solid separating filter is 30um, then the water travels through a 20um sock/bag filter unit. Tertiary recovery program on a small scale = big bottleneck in production flow.

Additionally, there is a Phd thesis by Fredrik Robelius on peak oil, not sure if anyone saw this?

OCB