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
From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility
Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of
Possibility
by Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger
Houghton Mifflin, 344 pages, $25.00
What We Know About Climate Change
by Kerry Emanuel
MIT Press, 85 pages, $14.95
Climate Change: What It Means for Us, Our Children, and Our Grandchildren
edited by Joseph F C DiMento and Pamela Doughman
MIT Press, 217 pages, $19.95 paper
Note: Bill McKibben will be answering questions from readers about his
article "Can Anyone Stop It?" and the possibilities for action to stop
SPP Super Highway almost ready: US Senator
Copyright 2007 The Tulsa World
Tulsa World (Oklahoma) // September 29, 2007
Senator: NAFTA Superhighway is nearly a reality
RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer
State Sen. Randy Brogdon, R-Owasso, said Friday that the so-called
"NAFTA Superhighway" is "close to reality" and is being built for
"transporting goods and people from Mexico and China."
Brogdon made the remarks during a news conference at Tulsa
International Airport for the Oklahomans for Sovereignty and Free
Enterprise conference being held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at
NEB Head calls Hearings into MGP "Success"
NEB head pleased with process
DAVID EBNER // October 1, 2007
CALGARY -- The epic regulatory review of the Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline has been a success in terms of collecting and assessing the many views on the controversial project, according to the new chairman of the National Energy Board.
"I feel we've done a superb job listening to everybody, carefully," said Gaétan Caron, in his first formal interview. "We haven't cut any corners. We've taken into account all the views people have about the project and we will finish the task of hearing the evidence in October."
Dollar drops faster than Oil Prices Rise; Record Prices only Skin Deep
Energy Roundup: Oil Prices Gain
Oil Prices Top $83, Sunny Day for Solar Shares, GE Building a Plant in Vietnam
September 28, 2007: 01:09 PM EST
NEW YORK (Associated Press) - The following is a summary of top stories in the energy sector at midday Friday.
Oil Heads for Record Territory Again
Oil futures climbed past $83 a barrel, as the steadily weakening dollar continued to draw buyers into commodity markets.
"Northern conservation could be paralyzed during Environment Canada review"
This is sadly one of those articles that cannot be published uncommented. The mad rush towards the north for Uranium, oil & gas, coal, Coalbed Methane, diamonds and more-- has already been basically handed to the federal government by those who have advanced much of the protected areas strategy.
Stupid to the Last Drop: How plans to detonate a nuke to get the tarpits flowing never came to pass
Big, bad oil in all its glory
Financial Post
Saturday, September 29, 2007
STUPID TO THE LAST DROP: HOW ALBERTA IS BRINGING ENVIRONMENTAL ARMAGEDDON TO CANADA (AND DOESN'T SEEM TO CARE)
William Marsden,
Alfred A. Knopf Canada
256 pp. $29.95 (Available Oct. 2)
---
The rise of the loonie has been partially explained by the price of oil, which recently hit a record of almost US$84 a barrel. The Canadian economy has the world's attention because Alberta's oilsands contain an estimated 174 billion barrels of oil, the second-largest oil reserve tally after Saudi Arabia.
"Prentice awaits input over aid for Mackenzie"
Prentice awaits input over aid for Mackenzie
'It's really in the hands of the proponents,' Industry Minister says
DAVID EBNER AND NORVAL SCOTT
September 22, 2007
BANFF AND CALGARY -- Imperial Oil Ltd. still hasn't restarted negotiations with Ottawa over potential federal aid for the beleaguered $16-billion Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline project.
"We are awaiting a response from industry," Jim Prentice, federal Industry Minister, said in an interview in Banff Thursday night before his first major speech in his new job.
"Why Ottawa must back pipeline"
Anytime Diane Francis starts her turgid prose, if you instinctively stay on the opposite side of whatever she is saying then you will probably be fairly safe. In this case, the rule holds. Ever more so, however, is a slight admission contained within the article: "There's enough already to produce one billion cubic feet per day and the pipeline needs 1.3 billion a day," why, pray tell, does the pipeline "need" 1 billion point three cubic feet a day?
Long emergency or long march back to the cave?: America's New Religion, Part II
America's New Religion, Part II
Dubai, UAE
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Long emergency or long march back to the cave? You decide,
Resurrection the mainline of American industrial power,
Tarantulas and the Gila monsters in Las Vegas and more...
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Joel Bowman, reporting from the sweltering Middle East...
Yesterday we brought you an essay by James Howard Kunstler. Mr. Kunstler is the author of the book, "The Long Emergency," in which he predicted, as Eric pointed out yesterday, "the end of the privileged, energy-dependent American lifestyle."
Russian Tar Sands!
Tatneft, Shell Deal on Russian Oil Sands
Associated Press 09.27.07, 11:04 AM ET
MOSCOW -
Russian oil producer OAO Tatneft said Thursday it signed a deal with Royal Dutch Shell Group to jointly develop oil-bearing tar sands in the central Tatarstan region.
The company gave no indication of when it expected to start producing oil from the project, or how much it could ultimately produce. Earlier reports had put the project's potential daily output at around 40,000 barrels.
