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
Total: May Delay Joslyn Mine Project Decision To Cut Costs
Total: May Delay Joslyn Oil Sands Proj Decision To Cut Costs
* APRIL 6, 2009, 1:17 P.M. ET
OTTAWA (Dow Jones)--Total SA (TOT) may delay its investment decision for the proposed C$9 billion Joslyn oil sands mine in northern Alberta by a few months as it looks to cut project costs, the company said Monday.
The French oil major holds a 74% interest in the oft-stalled development and had previously intended to make a go-ahead decision in early 2010.
Energy giants lose interest in Alberta carbon capture fund
Energy giants lose interest in Alberta carbon capture fund
Last Updated: Thursday, April 2, 2009
The Canadian Press
Some of the biggest players in Alberta's oilsands have dropped out of the running to be part of the province's $2 billion carbon capture and storage fund.
Nine companies, including Suncor Energy, Syncrude Canada Ltd., and ConocoPhillips Canada, are no longer interested in sending the province proposals for carbon capture and storage projects. A total of 20 companies were chosen by the province in November to apply for the fund.
Province hires Washington lobbyists
Province hires Washington lobbyists
Updated: Sat Apr. 04 2009
ctvcalgary.ca
The province has hired Washington lobbyists to pitch the oil patch to Alberta's biggest customer.
"There is so much at stake for Alberta and we will be applying the full-court press. Not only on elected officials but also on the U.S. administration," says Premier Ed Stelmach.
The move comes as the American government is under increasing pressure to invest in and purchase green energy.
Stelmach says many don't realize how clean Alberta's oil sands are and that's why he's enlisting the help of lobbyists.
Nexen, Opti Canada May Be Targeted in Tar-Sands Deals
Nexen, Opti Canada May Be Targeted in Oil-Sands Deals
By Joe Carroll
April 3 (Bloomberg) -- 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.
Vanoc expects no profit in 2010 Games with economic slump
Vanoc expects no profit in 2010 Games with economic slump
The organizers of the 2010 Winter Olympics no longer expect to leave a
financial surplus for future sport development.
The same worldwide economic downturn that has bankrupted companies and
left tens of thousands of people without jobs has also eaten up — for
now — any potential Olympic profit, John Furlong, the head of the
Vancouver Organizing Committee, said Wednesday.
Furlong said Vanoc is struggling just to make sure it breaks even when
the Games end next year.
Stephen Harper announces cancellation of Earth Day
Stephen Harper announces cancellation of Earth Day
By rabble staff | April 1, 2009
LONDON, UK -- "Canada, among all the advanced countries, is best positioned to prosper and profit from the ecological crisis," announced Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper shortly after arriving for the opening of the G20 summit.
Alberta government on hot seat after Syncrude duck death toll hits 1,606
Alberta government on hot seat after Syncrude duck death toll hits 1,606
By Kelly Cryderman, Calgary Herald
April 1, 2009
Oilsands giant Syncrude revealed Tuesday that 1,600 waterfowl drowned in a tailings pond near Fort McMurray last April -- more than three times the original estimate of dead birds.
Environmental critics such as the Sierra Club of Canada, Greenpeace and Ecojustice immediately jumped on the fact the real figure has been hidden from the public for months.
Fowl fatal figure flap
Wed, April 1, 2009
Fowl fatal figure flap
Syncrude reveals duck tragedy triple initial toll - which it and province knew in July
By KERRY DIOTTE, LEGISLATURE BUREAU CHIEF
Province knew in July the real toll at the tailings pond.
Syncrude and the Alberta government knew nine months ago that three times as many ducks died in an oilsands tailings pond than initially reported - but officials didn't make the higher death toll public until yesterday.
Becoming No. 1: Suncor's story
Becoming No. 1: Suncor's story
March 23, 2009
CBC News
If the deal goes down, one of the first companies to pull oil from the sticky tar sands of Alberta is about to become Canada's biggest energy company and the fifth-largest in North America.
Suncor and Petro-Canada plan a merger that would give the company a market capitalization of $43.3-billion US. For comparison, energy giants Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips are worth about $326.6 billion and $55.97 billion, respectively.
What is Suncor?
Abu Dhabi National Said to Be Chasing Canadian Tar Sands Deals
Abu Dhabi National Said to Be Chasing Canadian Deals
By Joe Carroll
March 30 (Bloomberg) -- Abu Dhabi National Energy Co., the Persian Gulf petroleum and power producer known as Taqa, is hunting for acquisitions in Canada’s tar sands, home of the world’s second-largest crude deposits outside Saudi Arabia, according to two people involved in the search.
Taqa is assessing multiple potential targets that extract crude from Canada’s oil-soaked bogs and river valleys, according to people who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to make the information public.
