Tar Sands 101
The Tar Sands "Gigaproject" is the largest industrial project in human history and likely also the most destructive. The tar sands mining procedure releases at least three times the CO2 emissions as regular oil production and is slated to become the single largest industrial contributor in North America to Climate Change.
The tar sands are already slated to be the cause of up to the second fastest rate of deforestation on the planet behind the Amazon Rainforest Basin. Currently approved projects will see 3 million barrels of tar sands mock crude produced daily by 2018; for each barrel of oil up to as high as five barrels of water are used.
Human health in many communities has seriously taken a turn for the worse with many causes alleged to be from tar sands production. Tar sands production has led to many serious social issues throughout Alberta, from housing crises to the vast expansion of temporary foreign worker programs that racialize and exploit so-called non-citizens. Infrastructure from pipelines to refineries to super tanker oil traffic on the seas crosses the continent in all directions to allthree major oceans and the Gulf of Mexico.
The mock oil produced primarily is consumed in the United States and helps to subsidize continued wars of aggression against other oil producing nations such as Iraq, Venezuela and Iran.
To understand the tar sands in more depth, continue to our Tar Sands 101 reading list
Nexen, Opti Canada may be targeted in tar sands deals
Nexen, Opti Canada may be targeted in oil sands deals
By Joe Carroll, Bloomberg
April 3, 2009
Nexen Inc. and Opti Canada Inc. may be among Canadian oil companies targeted for takeovers as a price collapse triggers a rush by larger producers to amass holdings in the biggest crude deposits outside Saudi Arabia.
Alaska Highway Pipeline competitors update legislators about progress
Despite the continuation of the little side show designed to make us believe that this pipeline is set to go to "markets in the lower 48", there is still both the maps of where the gas is to go (the Alberta Grid) and the basic math which tells us that the pipeline is *needed* in order to get to the production targets for the tar sands of Alberta-- over 5 million barrels a day of tar sands bitumen/ mock oil.
--M
Pipeline competitors update legislators about progress
GAS: Transcanada says it has expertise; Denali sees concerns with partnership.
Petroleum News
April 15th, 2009
BP 'still committed' to Sunrise: chairman
BP 'still committed' to Sunrise: chairman
Claudia Cattaneo, Financial Post
Thursday, April 16, 2009
CALGARY -- BP PLC is considering a range of options to move forward the Sunrise oil sands project with partner Husky Energy Inc., including integrating carbon capture and storage to mitigate the environmental impact, chairman Peter Sutherland told the annual meeting of shareholders in London on Thursday.
Tar sands water hearings due in Wood Buffalo in May
Oilsands hearings due in Wood Buffalo in May
CAROL CHRISTIAN // April 16, 2009
Fort McMurray Today staff
The federal hearings on the impact of oilsands development on fresh water will be heading to the Wood Buffalo area next month, prompted by the urging of Edmonton MP Linda Duncan.
While hearings have been held in Ottawa since they resumed in March, hearing from government witnesses first, it was a bit of a battle to get them to Alberta, a victory that Duncan says was hard-fought.
Big-league players step up for tar sands-- US lobbying
Big-league players step up for oil sands
U.S. lobbying
By Claudia Cattaneo, Financial Post
March 11, 2009
As Alberta's oil sands industry struggles with depressed oil prices and opposition from the environmental movement, a new front is emerging to support it -- in Washington.
Industry PR: "Keystone Pipeline will employ thousands of people, generate millions in taxes"
Keystone Pipeline will employ thousands of people, generate millions in taxes
StL Today
By Robert Jones
04/12/2009
The arrival of pipe to construct the Keystone Pipeline has attracted the attention of steelworkers, elected officials and the media. This has generated more debate about American manufacturing and free and fair trade.
While those are big issues, the focus on Keystone may have left the wrong perception about the project and the company developing the pipeline, TransCanada.
"Pipe From India Incenses Illinois Town" [Keystone]
Pipe From India Incenses Illinois Town
Dan Gill for The New York Times
Steel pipes marked "Made in India" sat ready for the Canada-to-Oklahoma pipeline at the Port Authority in Granite City, Ill.
April 15, 2009
GRANITE CITY, Ill. — Jeff Rains, a retired steel worker at the sprawling mill here, made the discovery. Out walking a month ago, he waited impatiently at a rail crossing while a freight train slowly passed, its flatbed cars stacked with steel pipes, each wide enough for a child to crawl through. Then he noticed “Made in India” stenciled on the pipes.
Suncor fined over $1-million [re: Firebag]
Suncor fined over $1-million
Apr. 02 2009
ctvcalgary.ca
Suncor and one of its contractors have been ordered to pay over $1 million in fines after pleading guilty to breaching environmental laws.
Suncor pleaded guilty to not having emissions controls at its Firebag oilsands facility.
The lack of pollution control equipment meant hydrogen sulphide and other compounds were released into the air.
For this violation, Suncor Energy Inc. has been fined $675,000.
Suncor is also in trouble for allowing sewage to be dumped into the Athabasca River.
Petro-Canada Cuts 200 Jobs, blames Fort Hills
Petro-Canada Cuts 200 Jobs From Oil-Sands Unit On Proj Delay
* APRIL 15, 2009
OTTAWA (Dow Jones)--Petro-Canada (PCZ) is cutting some 200 jobs in its oil-sands unit as its Fort Hills project remains stalled amid weakened oil prices and the stuttering economy.
The layoffs, which will affect nearly a third of the department's employees, are "absolutely not at all connected" to the merger with Suncor Energy Inc. (SU) announced last month, said Petro-Canada spokeswoman Kelli Stevens.
Doc’s claims ‘hurtful’: O’Connor
Doc’s claims ‘hurtful’: O’Connor
CAROL CHRISTIAN
Fort McMurray Today staff
After three years of drawing attention to elevated cancer rates in Fort Chipewyan, Dr. John O'Connor now finds himself at a loss to explain “hurtful” comments from a Health Canada medical officer of health that he misreported the cancers.
