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
The Fort McMurray airport is "bursting at the seams"
Airport expansion plan set to take off
http://www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/Local%20News/326841.html
Stories by SARAH FOX
Today staff
Friday July 27, 2007
The Fort McMurray airport is bursting at the seams as it welcomes 580,000 passengers a year through its doors.
This is twice the number the terminal was meant to accommodate when it was built in 1986.
Officials are currently planning an $80- to $100-million airport expansion which will include building a second runway and possibly an entirely new terminal building, said airport CEO Darryl Wightman.
Not enough pipelines for the Tar Pits: National Energy Board
This news article below shows, once again, that taking out the ability to construct pipelines to send oil and and bring gas (x2) in is a viable strategy for the cessation of the tar pits expansion. In other words, our fights against the Keystone, Alberta Clipper and North-Central Corridor, along with the Mackenzie Gas Project and Enbridge Gateway (among so many more!) all slow down the speed of flowing mock crude to a bottleneck pace.
Record gas prices not curbing drivers
Record gas prices not curbing drivers
By Associated Press // July 21, 2007
http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/07/21/money/doc46a2c55c375cf8724...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Record-high prices for gasoline this year haven’t dampened U.S. drivers’ demand for fuel, an industry trade group said last week.
Drivers consumed a record 9.2 million barrels, or 388 million gallons, of gasoline on average every day during the first half of the year, up 1.5 percent from last year’s levels, the American Petroleum Institute said in its midyear review of fuel statistics.
Gimme $500-- I'll give you a Corporate Tour of the Tar Sands
Vacationers spending $500 on one-day oilsands tour
Last Updated: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 | 8:31 PM NT
CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2007/07/25/travel-a...
Forget fall leaf tours or autumn days on a cottage dock — vacationers are signing up for a September trip to frolic in Alberta's oilsands.
Classic Canadian Tours will fly passengers from Calgary to Fort McMurray to get a first-hand glimpse of what is driving the province's economy.
Europe must do what it can to stop the rush for ‘bad oil’
Europe must do what it can to stop the rush for ‘bad oil’
http://www.transportenvironment.org/Article440.html
Jul 26, 2007
Editorial by Jos Dings
Bad oil? To some people familiar with the environmental movement, the term “bad oil” may sound odd. Isn’t all oil bad from an environmental perspective?
Everything is relative. Yes, the oil we use today is very bad for the climate. But the so-called “unconventional” oil the world is looking to use in increasing intensity is so bad for the climate that today’s oil actually looks good in comparison.
Tar Sands: Royal Dutch Shell's Self-Described Most Profitable Oil
Shell rakes in profits from Canadian tar-sands unit: Times of London
By London Bureau
Last Update: 6:31 AM ET Jul 27, 2007
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/shell-rakes-profits-canadian-oil-s...
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The world's dirtiest oil is producing the highest profit per barrel for Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA.LN), which yesterday said it would begin to report the earnings of its controversial Canadian oil sands operations as a separate business unit, the Times of London reports Friday.
Alberta building unions threaten tar sands strike
Alberta building unions threaten oil sands strike
Tue Jul 24, 2007 1:27 PM EDT
By Scott Haggett
CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Five Alberta construction unions have voted in favor of their first strike in a quarter of a century as they seek higher wages and improved working conditions at a slate of multibillion-dollar oil sands projects.
Electricians, boilermakers, plumbers and pipefitters, millwrights, and refrigeration mechanics have approved a strike and 72-hour notice could be served as soon as Wednesday, though a quick walk-off is not yet certain, an analyst said.
Premier Not Safe From Tar Sands Justice!
EDMONTON SUN
By NICKI THOMAS, SPECIAL TO SUN MEDIA
A heavily guarded Ed Stelmach served pancakes to a crowd of early risers at yesterday's Premier's Capital Ex Breakfast.
Two weeks after an attempted pie attack at the Calgary Stampede, a beefed-up security team ensured a similar incident wasn't possible.
Plainclothes security staff as well as bicycle cops and uniformed sheriffs kept an eye on the crowd as Stelmach shook hands and spoke with visitors.
$100 Oil Price May Be Months Away, Say CIBC, Goldman
$100 Oil Price May Be Months Away, Say CIBC, Goldman (Update1)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aYjwn7IqTlHQ&refer=home
By Mark Shenk
July 23 (Bloomberg) -- The $100-a-barrel oil that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said would prevail by 2009 may be only a few months away.
Not enough Labour, Building entire Towns in the Tar Pits
Labour Pool Will Continue To Be Stretched As More Projects Come On Board
By Paul Wells //July 23 2007
http://www.dobmagazine.nickles.com/article.asp?article=%5Cdob%5C070723%5...
The shear volume and complexity of large-scale projects planned or occurring in the oilsands combined with booming construction in other sectors in Alberta will only increase the strain on an already stretched labour pool, PennWell Corporation's oil sands and heavy oil technologies conference heard last week.
