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
Suncor, Petro-Canada announce merger
Suncor, Petro-Canada announce merger
Last Updated: Monday, March 23, 2009
CBC News
Appealing to Canadian nationalism, Suncor Energy Inc. and Petro-Canada said Monday that a proposed merger between the two oil players would create the country's largest energy company and provide the oil patch with protection against potential foreign buyouts.
"I don't know if it is a marriage made in heaven. But it is a match made in Canada," said Suncor's president and CEO Rick George in announcing the all-stock deal to create a $43 billion behemoth.
From the Athabasca to the Saint Lawrence and the Great Lakes
From the Athabasca to the Saint Lawrence and the Great Lakes:
Events in Montréal, Toronto, Ann Arbor and Chicago.
Montreal Event:
Tar Sands: Stopping the flow of destruction
from the ATHABASCA to the SAINT LAWRENCE
WHEN: Friday March 20, 7pm
WHERE: Room 26, Stephen Leacock Bldg (855 Sherbrooke Ouest)
Toronto Event:
WHEN: Saturday, March 21, 7pm
WHERE: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE)
252 Bloor St. West, Room 5-250
Ann Arbor Event:
Tuesday, March 24. TBA
Chicago Event:
WHEN: Wednesday, March 25. 6:45pm.
WHERE: The Lincoln Park Library Auditorium.
Tar sands to blacken MTL?
March 19th, 2009
Tar sands to blacken MTL?
Punching holes in tar sands pipeline
Meg Hewings
A giant pipeline extension carrying over 200,000 barrels of tar sands oil a day into or through Montreal for refining has stalled because of the credit crunch.
"This is temporary," warns Macdonald Stainsby of OilSandsTruth.org . "The slowdown we are seeing in tar sands development is not because of political opposition or new environmental regulations, but a lack of excess capital available in the construction industry."
Is this the risk we should take? (Enbridge Gateway)
Is this the risk we should take?
March 18, 2009
Smithers Interior News
On March 24, 1989 the Exxon Valdez began spilling what amounted to approximately 40 million litres of crude oil into Prince William Sound. While the incident ranks well down on the list of the world’s largest oil spills by volume, it is considered one of the most devastating.
As we commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the Exxon Valdez, it’s worth looking at the trauma that 40 million litres of misplaced oil can cause, and comparing it to what is being asked of Northern communities today.
Former Fort Chip doctor calls for tar sands slowdown
Former Fort Chip doctor calls for oilsands slowdown
Last Updated: Monday, March 9, 2009
CBC News
Dr. John O'Connor, shown here in Edmonton Sunday, is featured in Downstream, a documentary by American filmmaker Leslie Iwerks. Dr. John O'Connor, shown here in Edmonton Sunday, is featured in Downstream, a documentary by American filmmaker Leslie Iwerks. (CBC)
The doctor who first raised concerns about cancer rates in Fort Chipewyan, Alta., three years ago — and became the target of a professional complaint — said on Sunday he'd do it all again.
Conference to spotlight ground water issues (Keystone)
Conference to spotlight ground water issues
Staff Reports • Argus Leader • March 16, 2009
The South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources will host its 21st annual Environmental and Ground Water Quality Conference on Wednesday and Thursday at the AmericInn Teton Island Conference Center in Fort Pierre.
The conference is free and open to the public. It will feature new technologies and findings in ground water testing and remediation, the latest developments in ground water quality regulation and a forum to exchange ideas on ground water protection and cleanup.
Budget triples for Mackenzie Valley review panel
Budget triples for Mackenzie Valley review panel
SHAWN MCCARTHY AND NATHAN VANDERKLIPPE
March 16, 2009
OTTAWA and CALGARY -- The budget for the panel reviewing the proposed $16-billion Mackenzie Valley Pipeline has nearly tripled amid delays that have frustrated industry and government, an internal federal report says.
The report from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency says the Joint Review Panel's costs have risen to $18-million, from the original budget of $6.8-million when it was established in the summer of 2004.
Big-league players step up for tar sands
Big-league players step up for oil sands
U.S. lobbying
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.
CNRL PR: First oil produced at Horizon project
CNRL PR: First oil produced at Horizon project
ALBERTA — The first synthetic crude oil from the Horizon oil sands project was produced on Feb. 28, 2009, reported owner Canadian Natural Resources Ltd (CNRL). The event marked four years of construction work.
Double talk on tar sands
Double talk on tar sands
Mar 01, 2009 04:30 AM
Toronto Star
Alberta's tar sands have always been a political hot potato. Now they are being tarred by no less an authority than National Geographic as a blight on the boreal forests and a pox on the planet.
There is something about being featured in foreign publications that captures the attention of Canadians unlike anything else. Now, federal politicians are weighing in with alacrity, if not quite clarity, about the place of the tar sands in Canada's future.
