If "independence from oil" is the goal, then a combination of all known tech (solar, wind, nuclear, even coal) will do the job. It won't completely rid us of our dependence, but every little bit will be a step in the right direction.

"Since 1995, monitoring in the oil sands region shows improved or no change in long term air quality for the five key air quality pollutants"

", the amount of water taken for oil and gas development amounts to only about .5% of mean annual flow in the Athabasca River"

"produces about 5 or 6 times as much energy as is consumed. Energy efficiency is expected to improve"

Oil is definitely too cheap right now, and this causes people not to appreciate its value, thereby wasting it.

1 gallon of gasoline is equivalent in energetical output to 7 human slaves working for a whole day... You can buy that for $3 or $4 right now, which is nowhere near expensive IMO.

Good point.

We need to lower the minimum wage. Keep the proletariat in line with the rest of our commodities.

That energy return is pretty bad compared to other oil production methods.

Water usage is still very high, and they're not even producing at full scale yet. Let's look at meaningful figures, not some random percentage:

To produce one cubic metre (m³) of synthetic crude oil (SCO) (upgraded bitumen) in a mining operation requires about 2–4.5 m³ of water (net figures).

Lol

It's an eye-opening statistic though, isn't it? For me it is at least. Our current civilization still has access to very cheap energy.