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
Enbridge and BP plan pipes to get Canada oil to Gulf
Enbridge and BP plan pipes to get Canada oil to Gulf
Fri Aug 29, 2008 12:40pm EDT
CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Enbridge Inc (ENB.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and BP Plc (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) plan to spend up to $2 billion expanding their pipeline systems to ship growing volumes of Canadian crude oil to the U.S. Gulf Coast, they said on Friday.
Alberta oil, gas land sales double
Alberta oil, gas land sales double
Dan Healing, Calgary Herald
Published: Thursday, September 04, 2008
Fifteen successful bids of more than $1 million each powered the first Alberta oil and gas properties land sale of September to a total of $58.6 million.
That's more than double the corresponding sale of a year earlier, which brought in just $21.7 million, according to numbers posted Wednesday on the Alberta Energy website.
Alberta oil spill kills hundreds of birds
Alberta oil spill kills hundreds of birds
NORVAL SCOTT AND DAWN WALTON
With a report from The Canadian Press
September 10, 2008
CALGARY -- Alberta's oil and gas industry is again in the environmental dock, as a spill at an oil well in the province has killed up to 500 ducks and swallows, according to reports from the scene.
The birds died after landing in the spill, which was found Monday at an out-of-service conventional oil well in the southwest corner of CFB Suffield, in southeastern Alberta. The well is operated by Calgary-based Harvest Energy Trust.
Imperial's March "Optimistic" on Mackenzie Gas Project Prospects
Imperial's March Optimistic on Mackenzie Prospects
By Reg Curren
Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Imperial Oil Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Bruce March, head of Canada's largest oil company, said he's the most optimistic he has been in the past five years about the chances of the Mackenzie gas pipeline proceeding.
Recent comments from Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who is seeking re-election on Oct. 14, have boosted Imperial's confidence for the C$16.2 billion ($15.2 billion) project to proceed, March said at a Toronto investor conference today.
Tar sands fatality raising eyebrows
Oilsands fatality raising eyebrows
By KEVIN CRUSH, SUN MEDIA
The second fatal incident on the Horizon oilsands project in less than two years has officials raising eyebrows.
Richard Boyd Boughner, 47, of Love, Sask., was killed Wednesday when the floating backhoe he was operating flipped in a tailings pond at the Horizon site north of Fort McMurray.
On April 4, 2007, a tank collapse on the sprawling site killed two foreign workers from China.
Explosions in Metro Vancouver 'rare'
Explosions in Metro Vancouver 'rare'
Kelly Sinoski, Vancouver Sun // Wednesday, August 13, 2008
METRO VANCOUVER - Propane tanks, underground gas pipes, and trains and transport trucks rolling through Metro Vancouver all pose the risk of an explosion similar to the one that rocked Toronto last weekend.
Metro officials say although there is always a risk, it's low because the industry here is so strictly regulated.
As well, the fallout would likely not be as widespread because most oil and gas facilities are located in industrial areas away from residential neighbourhoods.
Opti/Nexen Long Lake tar sands project on track for first production later this month
This project should likely become a lightening rod against Sag-D production as it is also one of the dirtiest in history, as it uses a gunk it calls "asphaltene"-- the left over crap from the Sag-D project. This produces vastly higher GG emissions, which are already on average 3-4 times higher than in regular oil in tar sands production, and slightly more in Sg-D production. This plant is only 8 kilometers from the indigenous and Metis settlement of Anzac.
--M
Long Lake tar sands project on track for first production later this month
September 2, 2008 - 21:58
Shrinking Water Supplies and Growing Energy Demands—an Emerging Strategic Headache
COMMENTARY: The Business of Water
Shrinking Water Supplies and Growing Energy Demands—an Emerging Strategic Headache
By David Hampton
The Sonora Desert in Mexico. Rising populations and increased energy demand are straining limited global water resources.
The energy industry's Mediterranean love affair
The energy industry's Mediterranean love affair
Eni's purchase of First Calgary Petroleums is another sign of the sector's plans for Algeria and Libya. And the competition is heating up
ERIC REGULY // Globe and Mail
September 9, 2008
ROME — Algeria and Libya have gone from no-go countries to the hottest of the oil and gas hot spots in only a few years.
What $300-a-Barrel Oil Will Mean for You
What $300-a-Barrel Oil Will Mean for You
Charles Maxwell, Senior Energy Analyst, Weeden & Co.
By LAWRENCE C. STRAUSS
AN INTERVIEW WITH CHARLES MAXWELL: He correctly predicted the recent price spike -- and he sees an eventual move to around $300 a barrel.
