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
Ice-free Arctic could be here in 23 years; Area 2X the size of England lost Last Week
[1]The Guardian Wednesday September 5 2007
Ice-free Arctic could be here in 23 years
David Adam, environment correspondent
The Arctic ice cap has collapsed at an unprecedented rate this summer
and levels of sea ice in the region now stand at a record low,
scientists said last night. Experts said they were "stunned" by the
loss of ice, with an area almost twice as big as Britain disappearing
in the last week alone. So much ice has melted this summer that the
north-west passage across the top of Canada is fully navigable, and
CARC tells Pipeline Developers “Beef Up Assessment of Pipeline Impacts”
NEWS RELEASE 30/8/07
http://www.carc.org/pipeline_panel.php
CARC tells Pipeline Developers
“Beef Up Assessment of Pipeline Impacts”
Nuclear in Peace River, Natural Gas Tankers in Kitimat
Nuclear power moves west
http://www.peacearchnews.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=44&cat=23&id=10...
By Tom Fletcher // Black Press // Aug 30 2007
Backers of Western Canada’s first nuclear reactor have chosen a site west of Peace River, Alta., about 100 km from the B.C. border.
“This is an historic moment for Canada, for Alberta and for the nuclear power industry,” said Wayne Henuset, president of Energy Alberta Corporation.
Blaming labor for peak oil problems
Blaming labor for peak oil problems
http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2007/08/15/oil_sands_labor/index.html
A labor shortage is "wracking" the province of Alberta, Macleans tell us, brought on by the mad rush to exploit the vast reserves of petroleum locked in the fabled oil sands of Canada's Wild West. The jobless rate in Alberta is a "historically low" 3.4 percent even with net inward migration in 2006 hitting 62,000.
Tar sand mining growing at huge environmental cost
Tar sand mining growing at huge environmental cost
http://www.peopleandplanet.net/doc.php?id=3079
Posted: 23 Aug 2007
Canadian tar sands deposits hold an estimated 1.7 trillion barrels of crude oil, second in the world only to Saudi Arabia, but the devastating environmental impact of mining them far exceeds that of conventional oil, says new research to be published next month (September 2007).
Imperial Oil getting Defensive over Mackenzie Gas Project
Mackenzie pipeline critics using wrong numbers: Imperial
Last Updated: Friday, August 31, 2007 | 10:39 AM CT
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2007/08/31/jrp-numbers.html
Critics of the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline have inflated some numbers related to the pipeline's impact on future development, an official with Imperial Oil told the joint review panel on Thursday.
"Feds praise Alaska pipeline process"
Feds praise Alaska pipeline process
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8R1QE381.htm
By STEVE QUINN
JUNEAU, Alaska // The Associated Press August 15, 2007
Federal regulators on Wednesday praised Alaska's renewed attempts to get a natural gas pipeline built, a sharp contrast to a report earlier this year that said the process had "slipped considerably."
Peak everything
Peak everything
http://www.energybulletin.net/34357.html
by Richard Heinberg
This issue is an edited version of the Introduction to Richard Heinberg's new book Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines.
A few excerpts are posted here. See Global Public Media for the entire posting. -BA
Whistleblower MD returns to Fort Chipewyan
Whistleblower MD returns to Fort Chipewyan
Last Updated: Thursday, August 16, 2007 | 5:06 PM CT
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2007/08/16/fortchip-oconnor.html
The doctor who blew the whistle on what he says are high cancer rates in Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, visited the oilsands hamlet this week with a promise he would continue to fight for a health study in the community.
Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil (link to video)
http://onebigtorrent.org/details.php?id=2424&hit=1
Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil (2006) AVI
New repack 9-01-2007
Size 350Mb
Runtime: 53min. 5 sec.
New on OBT, a resized version for more rapid download.
These resizes are done for torrents which have had on-going interest
and traffic over time.
In 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba experienced an
'energy famine.' Transportation and agriculture virtually came to a
stop due to lack of diesel fuel and fertilizer shortages. This film
