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
Dead ducks tar Canada's image, PM says
Dead ducks tar Canada's image, PM says
JOHN COTTER
The Canadian Press
May 2, 2008
EDMONTON -- Alberta is under heavy pressure to strengthen its environmental
standards as the fallout from the death of 500 ducks in a toxic wastewater pond
gets stickier than the province's oil sands.
Images and stories of the dying waterfowl have been appearing on news outlets and
blogs around the world, prompting Prime Minister Stephen Harper to suggest that
the dead ducks have tarred Alberta's and Canada's international image.
Bolivian president proposes radical measures to save planet
Bolivian president proposes radical measures to save planet
Canwest News Service
Published: Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Opponents line up against proposed Alberta Clipper tar sands oil pipeline (Minnesota)
Opponents line up against proposed Canada oil pipeline
by Bob Kelleher, Minnesota Public Radio
April 22, 2008
A new oil pipeline proposed in northern Minnesota is getting resistance from an unusual direction. Opponents say the large pipeline would contribute significantly to global warming -- not so much from the oil itself, but for how the oil is extracted in Canada.
The hottest housing market in North America, driven by tar sands oil
The hottest housing market in North America, driven by oil
By Marshall Loeb, MarketWatch
Last update: 7:38 p.m. EDT April 21, 2008
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- A boom of unprecedented dimensions is sweeping Canada's spectacularly scenic western province of Alberta, the Texas-sized territory with a population of 3 million that is home to a pair of world-class cities -- Calgary (population 1.2 million) and Edmonton (population 1.1 million).
"Foreign workers should ask boss for language help in order to file complaints: minister"
I swear I'm not making this up. It's real. Got a problem employer in the Temporary Foreign Worker program where they can send you home tomorrow? Having trouble with English? The Alberta Government wants you to ask your boss to help translate a complaint against him/her. Isn't that wonderful? Problem solved, now go back to bed you idiots!
I really, really wish I *were* making this up.
-- M
Foreign workers should ask boss for language help: minister
April 22, 2008 // Edmonton Sun
Downstream from tarsands, Fort Smith worries over water
Downstream from tarsands, Fort Smith worries over water
Monday, April 21, 2008
CBC News
Concerned residents in Fort Smith, N.W.T., met Saturday to talk about the water they drink, and how tarsands development south of the town may be affecting its quality.
"We don't know the answers. We don't know what's in our water," resident Keith Hartery said at Saturday night's public meeting in Fort Smith, located on the N.W.T.-Alberta border.
The Political Economics of Greenwashing
April 22, 2008
The Political Economics of Greenwashing
Green as a Blackjack Table
By STAN COX
Hard times are looming. And in their desperation to keep the American economy afloat, government and business will be tossing overboard any proposals for real environmental protection. No time for such romantic foolishness when there are investments to be protected. Get those tax refunds back into retailers' registers, quick!
Signed, Sealed, Delivered [Keystone Pipeline]
Signed, sealed, delivered
Posted: April 21, 2008 // Indian Country Today
by: Stephanie Woodard
Environmental concerns plague fast-tracked oil pipeline
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - In March 2008, the U.S. Department of State issued a federal permit for the 2,000-mile TransCanada Keystone Pipeline, which would carry heavy crude oil from the oil sands of northern Alberta across seven U.S. states to Oklahoma. The document was signed, even though mandated government-to-government consultations with concerned Native nations were described as ''ongoing'' by the State Department.
"Poor leadership nudged push for eminent domain" [Keystone Pipeline]
Poor leadership nudged push for eminent domain (S Dakota)
Apr 20, 2008
Eminent domain is now front and center in the TransCanada Keystone Pipeline project.
Eminent domain, according to library.findlaw.com, is sometimes called "condemnation," and is the legal process by which a public body (and certain private bodies, such as utility companies, railroads, redevelopment corporations and -- in this case -- a pipeline company) is given the legal power to acquire private property for a use that has been declared to be public by a constitution, statute or ordinance.
China's thirst for oil isn't being quenched by Albertan crude
China's thirst for oil isn't being quenched by Albertan crude
Relations between Canada and 'the dragon' are at a 30-year low, expert says
Shaun Polczer, Canwest News Service
April 21, 2008
Despite Asia's insatiable thirst for oil, the prospects for oil exports from Alberta to the Far East are growing more remote by the day, a leading China expert said in Calgary last week.
