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
The Post-Petroleum Job Ads
by John Michael Greer
The Archdruid Report (September 03 2008)
Druid perspectives on nature, culture, and the future of industrial society
The mismatch between the narratives of sudden apocalypse that shape so
much of today's debate about the future, on the one hand, and the
sluggish pace at which the predicament of industrial society unfolds in
the real world, on the other, found a poster child of sorts last
weekend. During the days of uncertainty before Hurricane Gustav's
arrival on the Louisiana coast, some enthusiastic soul posted claims to
Enbridge Gateway Pipeline "back on the radar"
Pipeline back on the radar
Published: September 03, 2008 5:00 AM
Black Press
Public consultation on Enbridge's Gateway pipeline project is set to begin in Smithers sometime in November.
Roger Harris, Enbridge vice-president of communications and aboriginal partnerships, was in Smithers Aug. 27 to discuss the project with Town Council and the Chamber of Commerce.
'Blood diamonds', The NWT & the Likely Disastrous Effects of the Mackenzie Gas Project
'Blood diamond' smugglers threaten Canada's northern industry
Andrew Mayeda , Canwest News Service
Published: Thursday, September 04, 2008
OTTAWA - The diamond industry in Canada's Far North is vulnerable to smugglers looking to import "blood diamonds" or launder the proceeds of organized crime syndicates and terrorist organizations, newly released federal documents say.
Man Killed in CNRL Tailings Pond
MAN KILLED IN CNRL TAILINGS POND
September 4, 2008
Man killed in CNRL pond
Posted By By CAROL CHRISTIAN
Alberta’s shadow minister of employment wants a Canadian Natural Resources site shut down until the company can prove once and for all its Horizon site is safe.
Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald called for the closure Wednesday after a third fatality in less than 18 months at the site, about 70 kilometres north of Fort McMurray.
Lifting moratoria to create pipeline and tanker ‘energy corridor’
Issues - We’re in for a whale of a time
Lifting moratoria to create pipeline and tanker ‘energy corridor’
CHRIS GENOVALI / raincoast.org
Week of September 4, 2008
Canada Needs a National Water Policy That Bans Bulk Water Exports
Canada Needs a National Water Policy That Bans Bulk Water Exports
by Dana Gabriel // 8/29/08
Northwest Passage's northern route open again
Northwest Passage's northern route open again
Randy Boswell, Canwest News Service
Published: Thursday, September 04, 2008
The northerly route of the Northwest Passage has been declared navigable by the Canadian Ice Service.
It's just the second time in history -- and the second year in a row -- that the Parry Channel has opened enough to let regular ships safely through.
Let's Hold Canada to the Same Standards as China
Let's Hold Canada to the Same Standards as China
By Yves Engler; September 01, 2008 - Znet
The mainstream media's hypocrisy during the Olympics would have been funny
if it weren't so ignorance-producing.
So many words written or spoken about human rights violations,
lip-synching, suppression of Tibet, taped fireworks, Communist
dictatorship, evil Chinese nationalism and yet what about context? Or what
about how Canada might seem to them?
Has any media discussed Canada's decades-long support of British
imperialism in China? Opium War anyone? Dividing the country up among
Canada's Tar Sands Lobbyists Focus on Democrats
POLITICS-US: Canada's Tar Sands Lobbyists Focus on Democrats
By Chris Arsenault
VANCOUVER, Sep 2 (IPS) - As the U.S. election campaign kicks into overdrive, Canadian politicians and oil executives are stepping up lobbying efforts to make sure whoever controls the White House keeps purchasing notoriously dirty oil from the Alberta tar sands.
Airport closure could hurt access to health care: northern Alta. leaders
Airport closure could hurt access to health care: northern Alta. leaders
Last Updated: Wednesday, September 3, 2008
CBC News
Mayors and chiefs from northern Alberta communities said they will fight any plan to shut down Edmonton City Centre Airport, a public hearing in the provincial capital heard Tuesday.
About 60 people are making presentations at the two-day public hearings on the future of the airport, beginning Tuesday at Edmonton city hall.
