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
A Bridge Too Far: Deh Cho bridge could impede shipments of prefabricated modules from China to the Tarpits
Deh Cho bridge could impede barge route
By MIN HUN FONG, SRJ Reporter
Alberta proponents of the northern barge route said they were disappointed their project might be forced out by the Deh Cho bridge, but said they respected the NWT’s decision in any event.
Mammoet Canada, heavy lifting specialists and a proponent of the barge route, said it would be disappointing if the barge route is cancelled, especially since the economic spinoff from the route would benefit the NWT as a whole.
Canadian Crude: Impact Felt 1,200 Miles Away
Canadian Crude: Impact Felt 1,200 Miles Away
- 11/12/2007
Canada produces two and a half million barrels of oil a day and production is expected to double over the next decade. So, energy companies are looking for ways to get a newly developed oil from Canada to refineries in North America. One option is TransCanada's proposed Keystone Pipeline that would run through South Dakota and it all would start in Fort McMurray, Alberta.
It's about as far north as any paved road in Alberta goes. Fort McMurray sits in the Athabasca River valley 275 miles north of Edmonton.
"Labour shortage temporarily met from abroad"
Warning: this article justifies the virtual slavery of the "temporary foreign worker" programs, placing business "needs" ahead of human rights, especially in Energy exploding Alberta. Defend migrant rights, shut down the tar sands. The tar sands TFW's are not allowed off the work camp site. Think about that.
--M
Labour shortage temporarily met from abroad
Norma Greenaway , CanWest News Service
Published: Sunday, November 11, 2007
OTTAWA -- Joe Marshall had reached the end of his rope.
Cocaine: Alberta-wide increase
Cocaine: Alberta-wide increase
By CHUCK CHIANG
Fort McMurray Today staff
Tuesday November 13, 2007
The overall drug problem in Alberta is down, but cocaine-related issues are on the rise, according to a recent report by a provincial task force.
The Crime Reduction and Safe Communities Task Force said offences involving cocaine increased by 12 per cent last year, according to the Calgary Sun, versus drops in overall and marijuana drug offences.
The Richest First Nation in Canada: Ecological and political life in Fort MacKay
The Richest First Nation in Canada
Ecological and political life in Fort MacKay
by Macdonald Stainsby
The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca
The primarily Indigenous, mostly Cree (also 'Chipewyan Dene') community of Fort MacKay--just north of the internationally famous tar sand "boom" city of Fort McMurray--is said to be the "richest First Nation in Canada." The alleged wealth is largely due to the fact that the community is surrounded by, and on top of, tar sand.
NY Times on Poison Water, Fish and Animals for Fort Chipewyan
Study Finds Carcinogens in Water Near Alberta Oil Sands Projects
By IAN AUSTEN
Published: November 9, 2007
OTTAWA, Nov. 7 — High levels of carcinogens and toxic substances have been found in fish, water and sediment downstream from Alberta’s huge oil sands projects, according to a new study.
The 75-page report, written by Kevin P. Timoney, an ecologist with Treeline Environmental Research, was commissioned by the local health authority of Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, where many residents say they believe the oil sands developments to the south are damaging their health.
Fort McMurray of the Middle East
SAUDI ARABIA'S NEW MIGHT: ENERGY
Fort McMurray of the Middle East
As Saudi Arabia tries to extend its oil reach, it faces the same hurdles as Alberta
DAVID EBNER
November 13, 2007
RABIGH, SAUDI ARABIA -- It's 35 C and humid on the shore of the Rea Sea north of Jeddah as a sprawling industrial facility and construction cranes emerge through the bright haze in the near distance.
For Saudi Arabia, a crude oil producer and refiner, the site is a first step into a future of doing more with the black gold that lies in vast quantities beneath the desert kingdom.
The Big Banks are Selling us Out on Climate Change
Whether we avert catastrophe with climate change may actually be decided
by Citibank and Bank of America.
by Tara Lohan
AlterNet (October 06 2007)
We're nearing the end of the window of opportunity we have to avert the
catastrophic effects predicted from the earth's changing climate. We're
either going to sink or swim. Our best hope at this time is to
drastically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, like carbon dioxide.
Global leaders are putting their heads together to come up with
solutions. Across the world, countries and municipalities are passing
Economic View: Running on empty: peak oil production is in sight...
Economic View: Running on empty: peak oil production is in sight, global supplies will dwindle - and the US, for one, is ill-prepared
China's rapid growth in consumption could suck up all the extra crude pumped next year, leaving other countries to get by with less
Hamish McRae
Published: 11 November 2007
New report finds elevated arsenic risk in Fort Chipewyan
New report finds elevated arsenic risk in Fort Chipewyan
By MATTHEW HEINDL
Fort McMurray Today staff
Friday November 09, 2007
A new study that claims high levels of arsenic and mercury are in the Athabasca River has many calling for a halt to oilsands growth, but two Alberta government departments are not supporting its findings.
More than 70 people in Fort Chipewyan met Wednesday night to hear Dr. Kevin Timoney of Treeline Ecological Research deliver his findings on river sediment deposits downstream of the oilsands.
