Unconventional oil and gas: Impact on the biosphere
Induced earthquakes, vanishing caribou and growing tailings ponds
What this tab covers Effects on human, animal, plant, fungal and microbial life and on whole ecosystems: in the short term (construction and early years), medium term (operating life) and long term (decommissioning and legacy).Unconventional extraction brings distinctive local impacts: heavy water use and wastewater, earthquakes triggered by wastewater disposal, large mined areas and tailings ponds in the boreal forest, and methane leakage, on top of the climate and air-pollution costs of burning the fuel.
Water per fractured well 1.5 to 16 million US gallons16 Peak induced M3+ earthquakes, central and eastern US (2015) 1,01018 Oil sands fluid tailings (2024) 1,505 million m319 Methane from oil and gas operations (2025) 81 Mt (45 oil plus 36 gas, calculated)20Effects over time
| Life affected | Short term | Medium term | Long term |
|---|---|---|---|
| Humans18 | Truck traffic, noise and dust near well pads | Induced earthquakes: central and eastern US M3+ quakes rose from about 25 a year (1973-2008) to a peak of 1,010 in 2015, mainly from wastewater disposal | Largest induced quake M5.8 (Pawnee, Oklahoma, 2016); climate change from combustion and methane |
| Animals22 | Habitat fragmentation by roads, pipelines and pads | Woodland caribou in oil sands regions are declining towards local extinction, with wolves using linear features a leading cause | Recovery depends on restoring seismic lines and roads; not quantified in our sources |
| Plants13 | Boreal forest and peat cleared for mines | About 895 km2 of mineable area disturbed (2013) | Peatlands are hard to restore after mining |
| Fungi and soil life13 | Little evidence of effect quantified in our sources | Little evidence of effect | Little evidence of effect |
| Ecosystems1719 | Flowback and produced water in the first year rose up to 550% (2011-2016) | Oil sands fluid tailings grew from 1,075 million m3 (2014) to 1,505 million m3 (2024) | Tailings and wastewater must be contained for decades |
How the effects are reduced
Because wastewater disposal is the main cause of Oklahoma's induced earthquakes, regulating where, how much and how deep wastewater is injected is the main lever. Water recycling, both of frac flowback and at oil sands plants (80-95% recycled), reduces freshwater demand. Oil sands mines must contain tailings and report fluid and legacy tailings volumes to the regulator each year. Leak detection and ending routine flaring are the cheapest ways to cut methane. Restoring seismic lines and roads helps caribou.
Sources
- Oil sands facts and statistics Government of Alberta, 2024
- FAQ: How much water does the typical hydraulically fractured well require? US Geological Survey, 2024
- The intensification of the water footprint of hydraulic fracturing (Kondash et al., Science Advances) RTI International, 2018
- Induced earthquakes overview US Geological Survey, 2025
- 2024 State of Fluid Tailings Management for Mineable Oil Sands Alberta Energy Regulator, 2025
- Global Methane Tracker 2026: Key findings International Energy Agency, 2026
- Oil sands camera study of wolves and caribou (Keim et al., Journal of Animal Ecology) ScienceDaily, 2019