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
Tar sands-related cancer study to be released today (without Fort Chip's approval)
Tar sands-related cancer study to be released today
edmontonjournal.com
February 6, 2009
EDMONTON - A study of the incidence of cancer in the northern Alberta community of Fort Chipewyan is to be released Friday at noon.
Dr. Tony Fields of Alberta Health Services is to discuss the findings at Edmonton's Cross Cancer Institute.
Fort Chipewyan is downstream from oilsands development, which some in the area have blamed for higher than normal rates of rare cancer. The study was meant to determine whether that was the case.
Football Field Sized Trucks Head to Canadian Tar Sands with Superloads
Football Field Sized Trucks Head to Canadian Tar Sands with Superloads
Written by Jennifer Lance
February 1st, 2009
People in Montana have been noticing some big rigs on their highways, really big rigs.
Special trucks the size of a football field are carrying equipment cargo in “superloads” to the Canadian Tar Sands for oil extraction.
The Billings Gazette reports on the massive size of the trucks:
Low oil prices force Devon writedown
Low oil prices force Devon writedown
Us$6.8B Loss; Will continue oil sands development
Claudia Cattaneo, Calgary Bureau Chief,
Financial Post
February 05, 2009
Low oil prices at the end of December forced U. S. oil and gas producer Devon Energy Corp. to write down all its thermal oil sands assets in Alberta, contributing to a loss of US$6.82-billion in the fourth quarter, the largest in its history.
CERI warns on Alberta tar sands investment
CERI warns on Alberta oil sands investment
Claudia Cattaneo, Financial Post
February 05, 2009
CALGARY -- The global credit crunch and collapse of oil prices have cancelled the Alberta oil sands boom, resulting in a loss in investment of $97-billion to $241-billion in the next decade that will be felt throughout the Canadian economy, the Canadian Energy Research Institute said in a report Thursday.
Suncor ordered to test Athabasca River
Suncor ordered to test Athabasca
Oilsands giant discharged too much grease and oil into river Tuesday
By CAROL CHRISTIAN
McMurray Today staff
Suncor Energy is testing the quality of the Athabasca River after it discharged more grease and oil than allowed into the river Tuesday.
TransCanada told to continue expansion (Keystone Pipeline)
TransCanada told to continue expansion
Oil companies want pipeline built on schedule
Carrie Tait, Financial Post
February 04, 2009
TransCanada Corp., after suggesting in October that it would be willing to delay construction on a pipeline expansion project if its shippers so desired because of the tanking credit and energy markets, immediately took a little heat from its customers.
Pipeline would bring tar sands tankers into B.C. inlets
Pipeline would bring tankers into B.C. inlets
By Andrew Findlay
Georgia Straight
February 5, 2009
Where the waters of Caamano Sound squeeze into Whale Channel, four humpback whales circle in slow, languorous patterns. The whales dive, and the water above returns to calm save for a few wind ripples. Suddenly a single whale reemerges in a burst of bubbling water, mouth agape, its great baleen plates exposed and scooping up a massive mouthful of krill and small fish.
U.S. military to assist in Vancouver-- 2010
U.S. military to assist in Vancouver
VANCOUVER -- The United States military will be cooperating with its
Canadian counterparts to provide security for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Canadian Forces officials said Monday that the combined operations fall
under the provisions of joint command NORAD, said Canadian Rear Admiral
Tyrone Pile, commander of Joint Task Force Games.
"They have to be involved," Pile said. "We share a common border with them."
Pile said the U.S. will contribute Coast Guard and Navy vessels but there
will be no American troops involved on Canadian soil.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Peak Oil, And a World On The Brink
Benjamin Netanyahu, Peak Oil, And a World On The Brink
By Reggie Abaca, January 29th, 2009
Market Rap
The election of Democrat Barack Obama has managed to calm the wary nerves of those who feared the idea of an expanded worldwide war. There is a sense of calm on that front and an entirely new focus on the devastating economic crisis of today. Even investors in the crude oil (OIL) market are, for now, sitting back and taking a breath, perhaps caught up in the wonder of America's first African American president as they also stand shell-shocked by job losses and miserable economic data.
"And Then Let's Go For That Justice" Part II
"And Then Let's Go For That Justice" Part II
Indigenous women demand respect in Ottawa
by Maya Rolbin-Ghanie
The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca
The February 14 memorial march in Vancouver's Downtown East Side is held annually to remember and honour missing women and support their families and friends. Photo: Dawn Paley
In honour of missing and murdered indigenous women, the Walk4Justice began in Vancouver on June 21, Aboriginal Day, and ended with a rally of about 250 on Parliament Hill on September 15.
