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
Suncor production misses mark
Suncor production misses mark
Jan 11, 2008 04:30 AM
CALGARY–Suncor Energy Inc. says its oil-sands production during 2007 averaged about 236,000 barrels per day, short of the target 240,000 to 245,000.
In December, output at Suncor's oil-sands operation at Fort McMurray, Alta., averaged 234,000 barrels per day, down from 266,000 in November.
Suncor reports production numbers monthly from its operations. The numbers are preliminary and subject to adjustment.
Production volumes will be confirmed when fourth-quarter financial results are released Jan. 22.
Canada tar sands projects flunk green test-groups
Canada oil sands projects flunk green test-groups
By Jeffrey Jones
CALGARY, Alberta, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Canadian oil sands mining projects, seen as a key source of North American energy supply for decades to come, have been given poor environmental marks in a report released on Thursday, with even the best performer barely garnering a passing grade.
Environmental groups Pembina Institute and World Wildlife Fund surveyed 10 Alberta oil sands ventures, including seven yet to start producing, for attention to land, air emissions, water, climate change and overall environmental management.
Conservative Ploy to Neuter Canada's Nuclear Regulatory Agency to supply nuclear to the tarpits
Conservative Ploy To Neuter Canada's Nuclear Regulatory Agency
PEJ News - Al Rycroft - Under the guise of providing medical isotopes for the world the Conservative Government in Ottawa has initiated a high stakes game to neuter Canada's nuclear regulatory agency by threatening to fire its president. The ultimate goal of this game of chicken is to deliver a controllable "nuclear regulator" to the government to allow the unfettered re-development of nuclear power in Canada and the export of Candu reactors to the rest of the world - safety be damned...
A Kinder, Gentler Tar Sands, brought to you by the Pembina Institute and World Wildlife Fund
What is it that prevents Pembina Institute and WWF from just saying "Stop!" to the tar sands instead of just lobbying to improve their "environmental performance." Maybe it is something to do with the fact that they both receive multi-million dollar funding from the Pew Charitable Trusts, whose parent companies Sun Oil/Sunoco built the first tar sands project in 1967 and who continue to refine large amounts of sythetic tar sands crude oil in Ohio and are planning to extend tar sands supply pipelines as far east as their refineries in Philadelphia.
- Tarpit Pete
Action must be taken now to deal with peak of oil
Action must be taken now to deal with peak of oil
Jan 05, 2008 04:30 AM
Tyler Hamilton raises three crucial points in his article:
Gasoline prices, the Canadian-U.S. dollar exchange rate and crude oil have all passed a critical benchmark over a short period of time.
Not only is this a sign of fundamental changes within our economy, it is unfortunately very much beyond control of the Canadian consumer.
It is high time for the government to realize that the world oil peak is imminent and that necessary adjustments will require years to impact our energy economy.
Impacting Unimpaired: The SPP and TILMA are aimed directly at unimpeded extraction in the tar sands
- Alberta (& Saskatchewan) Tar Sands
- Enbridge Gateway Pipeline/ Offshore Tanker Traffic [BC]
- Mackenzie Gas Project / Alaska Highway pipelines [NWT/AK]
- Tarsands Infrastructure: South/ East [US & Can]
- International oil & gas
- 2010 Olympics
- Climate Change / Emissions
- Economics
- Energy
- Indigenous
- Labour / Migration
- Peak Oil
- Social Impacts
- War and Security
January 7, 2008
Impacting Unimpaired
New agreements like the SPP and TILMA are aimed directly at unimpeded extraction in the tar sands
by Macdonald Stainsby
The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca
Government Responsible for Sustainable Tar Sands Development
January 6, 2008
Government Responsible for Sustainable Tar Sands Development
by Rachel Penner de Waal
The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca
Alberta's current royalty regime has likely cost the province more in lost revenue than Trudeau's National Energy Program did, according to a senior policy analyst at the Pembina Institute.
[Utah] BLM: Tar sand development may hurt parks
BLM: Tar sand development may hurt parks
By BOBBY MAGILL
The Daily Sentinel
Monday, January 07, 2008
Tar sands development could severely affect Utah’s Canyonlands National Park, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and a stretch of the San Rafael Swell along Interstate 70, according to a Bureau of Land Management report.
Gas producers await fate of Alaska pipeline
Gas producers await fate of Alaska pipeline
West at risk
Jon Harding, Financial Post Published: Tuesday, January 08, 2008
CALGARY -- Almost half the natural gas pipeline capacity leaving Alberta today for markets across the continent could sit empty by 2018 unless an Alaska pipeline gets built and connects to the Alberta hub, says a new study by the Canadian Energy Research Institute.
Medicine at the crossroads of energy and climate change
Medicine at the crossroads of energy and climate change
by Dan Bednarz, Ph.D. and Kristin Bradford, M.D., M.P.H.
[all citations listed can be found at the url posted at the end of the article]
