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
Africa Faces Another Rising Expense: Fuel
Africa Faces Another Rising Expense: Fuel
By LYDIA POLGREEN
July 12, 2008
DAKAR, Senegal — In the United States, where the median household
income is about $48,000, $4-a-gallon gas is painful.
In Nigeria, most of whose 140 million citizens live on less than $2 a
day despite their country's status as the world's eighth largest oil
exporter, $5.50-a-gallon diesel is excruciating.
Daniel Idoko runs a small business center in Abuja, Nigeria's capital,
and because the country's electricity supply is so balky, he relies on
The Origins of the Western Greens
Forging a Politics Worthy of the Landscape
The Origins of the Western Greens
By JEFFREY ST. CLAIR
July 12 / 13, 2008
This essay is excerpted from Red State Rebels: Tales of Grassroots Resistance From the Heartland edited by Joshua Frank and Jeffrey St. Clair (AK Press, 2008).
For thirty-five years the Democratic Party has enjoyed a nearly unquestioned hegemony over environmental politics, even though the greatest gains for the Earth were made during the Nixon administration.
"B.C. oil could ease crisis"
B.C. oil could ease crisis
Offshore exploration should be considered, agency says
Peter O'Neil with files from Kelly Sinoski
Canwest News Service
Monday, July 14, 2008
PARIS -- Canada could play a crucial role in helping alleviate the international energy crisis if it continues to expand Alberta oilsands production and considers allowing exploration off B.C.'s pristine coastline, says a senior official with the International Energy Agency.
Bush lifts presidential ban on offshore drilling
Bush lifts presidential ban on offshore drilling
By Richard Simon, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
12:57 PM PDT, July 14, 2008
WASHINGTON -- President Bush today lifted a long-standing presidential
ban on new oil and gas drilling off the nation's coastlines and urged
Congress to remove its own restrictions on offshore energy
exploration, stoking the battle over how Washington should respond to
high gasoline prices.
But the wall of opposition on Capitol Hill to relaxing the drilling
ban, though softening, appeared to be holding. A congressional
Oilpatch stares at boots amid record prices
Oilpatch stares at boots amid record prices
Deborah Yedlin, Calgary Herald
Published: Saturday, July 12, 2008
With oil and natural gas trading at more than double where they were during Stampede Week last year, you'd think there would be a feeling of ebullience around town for this year's festivities.
Wrong.
For some reason, there's an unmistakably muted feeling. Sure, there are always the Stampede curmudgeons who opt to leave town or refuse to don their jeans and cowboy boots, but this year it's different.
Carrier Sekani question review of gas pipeline
Carrier Sekani question review of gas pipeline
Written by GORDON HOEKSTRA
Citizen staff
Tuesday, 01 July 2008
The Carrier Sekani Tribal Council says a provincial review that gave a $1.1 billion natural gas pipeline project between Summit Lake and Kitimat the green light is inadequate, although it was expected.
The project -- a joint venture between Pacific Northern Gas and Kitimat LNG -- received an environmental assessment certificate last Friday after a review by the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office.
Kinder Morgan ramping up tar sands pipeline plans into BC
Kinder Morgan ramping up pipeline plans
Dormant northern leg being revived
Jon Harding, Canwest News Service
Published: Wednesday, July 02, 2008
CALGARY -- A second large shipper of oil from Canada to the United States has confirmed interest is heating up between Canadian producers and refining customers in Asia and along the United States' West Coast.
Climate Change Will Have Major Impact on Fishing Industry: UN Agency
CLIMATE CHANGE WILL HAVE MAJOR IMPACT ON FISHING INDUSTRY, SAYS UN AGENCY
New York, Jul 10 2008 11:00AM
Climate change is already impacting the world's oceans and will have serious consequences for the hundreds of millions of people who depend on fishing for their livelihoods, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Tar Sands: Canada's dirty secret
Oil sands: Canada's dirty secret
As oil prices continue to reach record highs, the search for new sources of energy has led the world to Alberta, Canada, and its vast oil sands. Now, John Vidal finds, the country famed for its wilderness and clean living finds itself caught between fuelling the world's oil-hungry economy and the ecological devastation and soaring greenhouse gas emissions that exploiting the tar sands produces
* John Vidal, environment editor, in Fort McMurray
* guardian.co.uk,
* Friday July 11, 2008
Oil hits record near $147 as supply fears intensify
Oil hits record near $147 as supply fears intensify
Santosh Menon, Reuters
Published: Friday, July 11, 2008
LONDON (Reuters) - Oil leapt $5 to a new record high near $147 a barrel on Friday, spurred by growing worries of threats to supplies from Iran and Nigeria and the possibility of a strike by Brazilian oil workers next week.
U.S. crude was $4.85 at $146.50 a barrel by 9:15 a.m. EDT, off highs of $146.90, taking gains in just two sessions to over $10. It rose $5.60 or 4 percent a barrel on Thursday in a late burst of buying activity.
