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
Bitten by the deal that once fed us
No one wants to be on the outside looking in. When there is a great issue and movement underway, most people-- certainly most people who are political in one form or another-- will do whatever needed to be relevant, to have a comment, to be a part of what is going on, shall we say. This is always the case in presidential elections. The article below has some incredibly good information and is a piece that contains very important information about the whole process of NAFTA, et al.
Prentice says Mackenzie pipeline will "advance Canada’s interests"
Prentice says Mackenzie pipeline will advance Canada’s interests
THE CANADIAN PRESS // 23/05/08
CALGARY — The Mackenzie pipeline — long beset by regulatory snags and cost overruns — will “undoubtedly advance” Canada’s national interests once it is built, but control over the project must remain in private-sector hands, said Industry Minister Jim Prentice.
Statimc Native Youth Movement Statement on 2010 Olympics
Statimc Native Youth Movement Warrior Society St'at'imc Nation, Tsalalh
Territory
Re: 2010 Olympics
To Whom It May Concern;
Please accept this letter as a declaration of opposition to the upcoming
2010 Olympics set to take place within traditional St'at'imc Borders. Many
members of our Nation, including children, youth, elders and land users do
not support the Olympics taking place in Whistler for many reasons.
First being that Whistler and many other towns, cities and municipalities
are illegally occupied by foreigners and run by fraudulent government
Ottawa Takes Regulation of Albertan Gas Pipelines
TransCanada line put to federal watch
Jon Harding, with files from Gordon Jaremko, Edmonton Journal, Calgary Herald
Published: Wednesday, June 18, 2008
After years of resistance, Alberta says it will let Ottawa oversee regulation of TransCanada Corp.'s inter-Alberta natural gas pipeline web, known as the Nova system.
North American unions denounce privatization of Mexico's oil sector
Media advisory -
North American unions denounce privatization of Mexico's oil sector
OTTAWA, June 17 /CNW Telbec/ - While Mexico is steeped in an intense
public debate on the potential privatisation of PEMEX, a state-owned petroleum
company, North American energy sector unions continue to mobilize their
members and sound the alarm about the colossal loss that Mexico could suffer.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the Communications, Energy
and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) have delegated Canadian lawyer
The SPP and Merging Military Command Structures
The SPP and Merging Military Command Structures
by Dana Gabriel
Global Research, June 18, 2008
"Bruce Power launches nuclear power feasibility study"
Bruce Power launches nuclear power feasibility study
Cassandra Kyle, Saskatchewan News Network; Canwest News Service
Published: Wednesday, June 18, 2008
SASKATOON -- A feasibility study into the potential for a nuclear energy plant in Saskatchewan will be complete by the end of the year, according to the president and CEO of Bruce Power LP, a nuclear power producer in Ontario.
Canadians, Americans split on tar sands
Canadians, Americans split on oil sands
NORVAL SCOTT
June 11, 2008
CALGARY -- A majority of Canadians and Americans see the oil sands as economically important, but Canadians are more concerned about related environmental problems, a survey has found.
The study, carried out by public relations firm Fleishman-Hillard, found that 75 per cent of Canadians surveyed, and 68 per cent of Americans, believe future development of the oil sands is a "good thing."
"Tar Sands Aren't Restricted by U.S. Law"
Bingaman Says Canadian Oil Sands Aren't Restricted by U.S. Law
By Tina Seeley
June 11 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. legislation prohibiting the federal government from buying alternative fuels that have higher greenhouse-gas emissions doesn't apply to Canadian oil sands, Senator Jeff Bingaman said.
``Producing fuel from oil sands is not a new technology,'' Bingaman said today at a meeting of the Canadian American Business Council in Washington. The New Mexico Democrat said he supports clarifying language that the House of Representatives has already approved.
Industry PR: Tar sands tarred with environmentalists' brush
Hyperbolic invective like this should be embraced and treasured, not shunned. It is a sign of power, and not vulnerability that hogwash can be printed like this.
--M
Oil sands tarred with environmentalists' brush
By: Marilyn Scales
In the last couple of weeks environmentalists have loudly condemned Canada's oil sands producers. They call the industry dirty, polluting and a potential cause of increasingly foul emissions from U.S. refineries. These loudmouths have even reverted to the name "tar sands" lest anyone think "oil sands" is more benign.
