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
Toronto Star: We'll pay for Suncor expansion
We'll pay for Suncor expansion
Feb 09, 2008 04:30 AM
Cameron Smith
Turning a blind eye is supposed to be a bad thing, because you live a lie. You act as if you didn't know.
In Canada, we do this every day. Some make a lot of money at it. Others believe – in a mad, schizophrenic way – that it's a formula for prosperity.
Last week there was a prime example of turning a blind eye. The business press carried stories that Suncor Energy Inc. is planning to expand its oil sands operations in northern Alberta, at a cost of $20 billion.
Enbridge Gateway Pipeline Across North BC Gets a "Boost"
Enbridge makes pipeline progress
(News) Saturday, 09 February 2008, 01:00 PST
GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen staff
Enbridge says it has secured third-party funding to advance the regulatory process of its proposed $4-billion pipeline project through northern B.C., which would open up the possibility of shipping Alberta oilsands oil to markets in Asia.
The company included the third-party funding information as part of an update on projects under development released in year-end financial results, a $636 million profit for 2007.
N.D. Oil Pipeline Should Be Rerouted (Keystone)
N.D. Oil Pipeline Should Be Rerouted
By DALE WETZEL 02.08.08, 1:55 PM ET
BISMARCK, N.D. -
Opponents of a proposed oil pipeline want North Dakota regulators to reroute it away from an aquifer, lake and forested river valley, saying the pipeline developer's efforts to safeguard against leaks are inadequate.
TransCanada Corp. (nyse: TRP - news - people ), which is developing the Keystone pipeline, has said it will install heavier pipe near the Fordville aquifer, which is six miles southwest of Park River in southern Walsh County, and close to Lake Ashtabula north of Valley City.
Biofuels Deemed a Greenhouse Threat
February 8, 2008
Biofuels Deemed a Greenhouse Threat
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
Almost all biofuels used today cause more greenhouse gas emissions
than conventional fuels if the full emissions costs of producing these
"green" fuels are taken into account, two studies being published
Thursday have concluded.
The benefits of biofuels have come under increasing attack in recent
months, as scientists took a closer look at the global environmental
cost of their production. These latest studies, published in the
prestigious journal Science, are likely to add to the controversy.
How the North Central Corridor and the Mackenzie Gas Project will Team to make Billions for TransCanada
Feb. 1, 2008
TransCanada acquisitions boost profit
$250 milion Bruce power overruns the lone dark spot in picture
CALGARY
TransCanada Corp. has seen its recent profits surge as the Calgary-based pipeline and power utility made several acquisitions and juggled a number of expensive mega-projects.
Profit for the fourth quarter was $377 million, up from $269 million. Revenue rose to $2.19 billion from $2.09 billion.
It's Not Nice to Let Eastern Canadians Freeze in the Dark
Strategic Petroleum Reserves
It's Not Nice to Let Eastern Canadians Freeze in the Dark
GORDON LAXER
The Globe and Mail
February 7, 2008 - Page A19
When Cape Bretoners were hit with a furnace-oil shortage in December as the
result of an early winter and late-arriving fuel tanker, it concentrated the
mind: With icy winter now gripping Canada, isn't it time to counter the
threat of longer and more widespread oil shortages in the near future?
Canada is usually an avid joiner of international conventions. But we're the
Foreign worker plan under fire
The temporary foreign worker programs, already a grotesque violation of the most basic, elementary labour (and human) rights, are being ramped up for the construction plans associated with Alberta's Tar Sands boom, and the Olympics set to cripple Vancouver and indigenous territories throughout BC. These TFW's are a *needed* component of all of this, thanks to the unprecedented size of the gigaproject/Tar Sands. Further, the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement [Tilma] is the facilitator of policy in Alberta being virtually the same in BC.
How to Avoid Action on Climate Change
How to Avoid Action on Climate Change
The following is the text of Ian Angus’s keynote speech at “Smells Like Green Spirit,” a conference sponsored by the University of British Columbia Student Environment Centre, on January 19, 2008.
by Ian Angus, editor Climate and Capitalism
www.climateandcapitalism.com
Canadians are known for being modest and self-effacing. We don’t brag much, and sometimes we seem to have an inferiority complex, a belief that we do okay, but we seldom excel.
WBNP Officials and Native Leaders Address Water Quality in Peace-Athabasca Delta
WBNP Officials and Native Leaders Address Water Quality in Peace-Athabasca Delta
By GABRIEL ZARATE, SRJ Reporter 23.JAN.08
Ongoing concerns about water quality and possible contamination brought officials from Wood Buffalo National Park (WBNP) and regional native government representatives to Fort Chipewyan Wednesday, Jan. 16. The Peace-Athabasca Delta was the focus of talks, as it lies downstream from the oil sands extraction operations of Fort McMurray.
Big oil stokes the fires for the planet to burn
Big oil stokes the fires for the planet to burn
BP promised to go 'beyond petroleum'. But carbon remains at the heart of big energy firms
February 7, 2008 12:01 AM
There is a parallel universe in operation out there. Politicians try to negotiate a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, while business executives lay plans to expand their carbon footprint.
