That oil sand area isn't some pristine wilderness. And the oil sands are literally scooped up. Not like coal.First it's oil sands , most of which are strip mined which is falling out of favor. And don't let them kid you you can never truly 'reclaim strip mined land. The water table's destroyed and the ground is so badly disturbed that full reclamation isn't possible. It's dirty, hard to clean up and burns dirty.