Evidence #1: In order to extract the oil from oil sands, some operations usually clear trees and bushes from the sites.

Rebuttal #1: Yes, its true, but According to Alberta Government (n.d.) Steps have been taken to reduce the effect of clearing trees by planting more than 12 million tree seeding's in particular land depending on the criteria of self-maintaining ecosystem. And first successful reclamation was held in 2008.

Rebuttal#2: No doubt that the government has taken some good steps to reduce the effect, but the industry has already destroyed much of the land, the damaged has been done to some species.

Indeed, but as we said damage is being paid off in the form of reclamation and as well as in the form less emission as compare to coal in particular.
Evidence# 2
According to Andrew (2012) tar sand adds 0.36 C of world temperature as compare to coal which adds 14.8 C. This is a lot of Green house gas emition. We agree with your points that the tar sand is less greenhouse emission as compared to coal. But, in comparison to fuel, an article from environnews 2009 the extraction and refining of the oil sands produce 30%-70% greenhouse gas emission than conventional oil. Its true, but on the other hand, government of Alberta is investing billions of dollars over 15 years in new huge carbon capture and storage projects to capture and store 1.2 million tons of Carbon dioxide yearly.( facts and statistics) Well, actually, the oil sands is not only causing air pollution but also water pollution. For example, According to the article "Oil sands development" from environnews. The author states that the oil industry needs the fresh water in order to extract the oils, after that they will transfer the wastewater into the tailing pond. The point is that most of the tailing pond will finally join the river, and the water contains bitumen, and some other toxics. It directly affect any living organism that relies on the water. We may agree that it happened in the past but now the situation is different. according to (2015) CBC news Alberta's resource department minister states that new laws on limiting the water for tar