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
Offsetting carbon while the boreal burns: Canadian Boreal Initiative (Pew) funds Suzuki to promote boreal forest carbon trading
PetrCizek:
Comment: Just as more scientific evidence continues to emerge that increased forest fires, all caused by climate change, are now causing the boreal forest to emit more carbon than it absorbs, the Big Greens (coincidentally funded by the Big Oil Pew foundation) continue to promote the idea of carbon trading from boreal forest "offsets". Yet, even the Canadian Forest Service has concluded that Canadian forests should not be included as a "sink" under Kyoto due to the extremely high risk of forest fires and insect outbreaks in the future:
Chief Terry Nelson, Roseau River-- Open Letter to Prentice on Enbridge Alberta Clipper Pipeline
Dear Minister Prentice,
Re: Pipelines Across Treaty # One Territory
I have yet to receive a response from you on the October 10th letter I sent to you regarding the Enbridge Alberta Clipper pipeline. This pipeline as proposed will cross Treaty one territory and is currently in the National Energy Board approval process. The federal government must take this matter seriously and you as the Minister in charge of pipelines must be proactive in addressing the concerns of First Nations in these matters.
Enbridge Announces TWO MORE (diluent & bitumen) Pipelines for Tar Sands
Enbridge to build C$2 billion oil sands pipeline
Fri Nov 2, 2007 10:31pm GMT
CALGARY, Alberta, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Enbridge Inc said on Friday it will build a C$2 billion ($2.14 billion) oil pipeline to handle tar-like bitumen from Petro-Canada's (PCA.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) planned Fort Hills oil sands project.
Enbridge, Canada's No. 2 pipeline firm, said the 480-km (300-mile) line will be capable of carrying 250,000 barrels of diluted bitumen a day from the project site near Fort McMurray, Alberta, southwest to an upgrader near the Alberta provincial capital of Edmonton.
Nuclear power talks continue [Whitecourt]
Nuclear power talks continue in the county
Despite questions from Woodlands County council the province has declined to get involved in the nuclear power discussion.
Chandra Lye
Star Staff
Wednesday October 31, 2007
A letter received from Sustainable Resource Development (SRD) Minister Ted Morton told council that the department would not consider a land purchase application, submitted this summer, because of Energy Alberta’s decision to build a nuclear plant in Peace River.
TransCanada Trying to Streamline Regulatory Process for Keystone in N Dakota
Pipeline developer says requested delay would be costly
The Associated Press - Saturday, November 03, 2007
BISMARCK, N.D.
An oil pipeline executive says the city of Fargo's request to delay a Canadian pipeline project would add up to $100 million in costs.
Fargo wants North Dakota's Public Service Commission to reopen hearings on the Keystone pipeline.
Keystone Vice President Robert Jones says Fargo had a chance to take part in earlier hearings about the project and did not.
US Groups Identifying Tar Sands as "threat # 1"
Oil sands seen as 'threat No. 1,' as U.S. may target dirtier fuels
SHAWN MCCARTHY
GLOBAL ENERGY REPORTER
October 30, 2007
Canadian oil sands producers should brace for further bad news - this time from south of the border, as the U.S. government moves toward a national climate change policy that could target dirtier fossil fuels such as the oil sands bitumen, a former U.S. energy official said yesterday.
The National Post Obscures Peak Oil with Red Scare Tactics
Oil and its peaks
Peter Foster, Financial Post
Published: Friday, November 02, 2007
About 25 years ago (my God, I'm old!) I was having dinner in New York with a stockbroker friend who was telling me that oil was headed for US$100 a barrel. I said that I didn't think it would ever see US$40 again in real terms. As of yesterday, I'm still right (and my friend is still rich, which proves that it's better to be a stockbroker than smart, although both is preferable).
Energy Alberta Corporation Application to Prepare Site for Up to Two Twin CANDU Nuclear Reactors in Peace River
Energy Alberta Corporation's full application to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission dated Aug 25, 2007 can be downloaded as a pdf from this link:
http://www.energyab.com/pdf/CNSC%20-%20Application%20for%20a%20licence%2...
Additional pro-nuclear propaganda by Energy Alberta Corporation, the Canadian Nuclear Association, and others is contained on this page:
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TransCanada Pipelines Evaluating Nuclear for Alberta
TransCanada evaluating nuclear for Alberta
01 November 2007
TransCanada, Canada's largest pipeline company, is the latest to consider the use of nuclear energy in order to meet Alberta's increasing energy requirements.
"We think Alberta is in an interesting situation just because the long-term supply/demand fundamentals are good in Alberta, there is certainly demand for power," TransCanada's CEO Hal Kvisle said during a conference call to discuss the company's results for the third quarter of 2007.
Michael Klare: Beyond the Age of Petroleum, From "Oil" to "Liquids" (including bitumen)
Beyond the Age of Petroleum
by MICHAEL T. KLARE
The Nation [from the November 12, 2007 issue]
