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
Energy Alberta Corporation backtracks on firm nuclear power purchase agreements
Henuset pursues nuclear power for Alberta
Jon Harding, Financial Post
Published: Wednesday, September 26, 2007
CALGARY -- A fuel bundle from a nuclear reactor seems wildly out of place inside the rustic lobby of Calgary's Willow Park Wines & Spirits. Courtesy of Atomic Energy Canada Ltd. (AECL), the cylinder sits beside a display case containing some of the world's finest wine and scotch.
It is a serious juxtaposition in the chalet-like business office of Canada's largest private liquor store, which now doubles as the home of Energy Alberta Corp.
Greenpeace wraps up Action Camp
Greenpeace wraps up Action Camp
By CARY CASTAGNA, SUN MEDIA
It's been nearly two months since Greenpeace set up shop in Edmonton with the lofty goal of shutting down Alberta's oilsands, but don't expect to see any high-profile demonstrations anytime soon, says a local member of the international environmental group.
"We haven't made any concrete plans to chain ourselves to trees," said a chuckling Geeta Sehgal, one of two campaign organizers working out of the Greenpeace office at Calgary Trail and Argyll Road.
Alaskan Business: Mackenzie Pipeline Back on Track!
Canada's Mackenzie Valley pipe project is finally back on track
By Tim Bradner // September 23, 2007
Alaska Journal of Commerce
The Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline in Canada's Northwest Territories may finally be on track after delays in regulatory proceedings, the territory's industry minister told an oil and gas symposium in Anchorage on Sept. 17.
As race for oil-rich Arctic heats up, Inuit stake their claim, too
As race for oil-rich Arctic heats up, Inuit stake their claim, too
Indigenous to the region, the Inuit want a 'meaningful voice' in the territory dispute.
By Colin Woodard | The Christian Science Monitor / from the September 25, 2007
Energy Corporations on offensive against Alberta royalty report
Energy Corporations on offensive against Alberta royalty report
Last Updated: Monday, September 24, 2007 | 6:01 PM MT
CBC News
Oil and gas producers, angry with a government report that recommends hiking the royalties they pay, shot back Monday warning higher royalty rates will be a major blow to Alberta's energy sector.
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, which represents major companies in the industry, says last week's report is flawed.
Conservation, not pipeline, gaining N.W.T. support
Conservation, not pipeline, gaining N.W.T. support: poll
Last Updated: Monday, September 24, 2007 | 5:43 PM CT
CBC News
Support among residents of the Northwest Territories is waning for the proposed Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline, while interest in conservation is rising, according to the results of a poll released Monday.
The poll, conducted by McAllister Opinion Research, says backing for the pipeline is at 68 per cent, which is down six per cent from its last poll in 2004.
Hundreds march in Edmonton to protest labour laws
Hundreds march in Edmonton to protest labour laws
Canadian Press
September 22, 2007 at 10:21 PM EDT
EDMONTON — Hundreds of angry and loud tradespeople have laid Alberta's labour code to rest in a dramatic mock funeral.
Protest organizer Eric Klyne led the funeral procession to the legislature Saturday, flanked by men dressed as the grim reaper and a priest.
The demonstration capped off two weeks of labour unrest that began following an Alberta Labour Relations Board ruling that forbid the carpenters union from going on strike.
Grandma vs. the Tar Pit Mine
Grandma vs. the Oil-Sands Mine
By Kevin Graham
E/The Environmental Magazine
September/October, 2007
Eighty-five-year-old grandmothers aren’t typically subject to
censorship, but Liz Moore is no ordinary grandma. After touring an
oil-sands operation in Canada, Moore returned to her home in Colorado
and began researching the mining process. Eventually, she spent
$3,600 on a website that chronicles the destructive environmental
impacts of oil-sands mining.
“I was appalled at what I saw—the devastation of the land,” she says
Tuning in to the North, review of "Late Nights on Air"
Tuning in to the North
Review by MARIAN BOTSFORD FRASER
September 22, 2007
"Late Nights on Air"
By Elizabeth Hay // McClelland & Stewart // 364 pages, $32.99
Tar Sands send Loonie Past Dollar
"The rise in value of the Canadian dollar "is an energy story," said Busch. With crude oil futures trading at more than $83 U.S., investment capital is pouring north to help extract oil from so-called tar sands, also known as oil sands, in the province of Alberta.
"The average cost to produce a barrel from tar sands is $40 to $45," Busch said. The current world oil price "puts oil development from tar sands on steroids."
Go crazy: Dollar sinks below loonie
Bill Barnhart | Market report
September 21, 2007
