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
Confessions of a Anti-Nuke Jerk
June 12, 2007
Or Why It Feels Good to be Smeared by Patrick Moore
Confessions of a Anti-Nuke Jerk
http://counterpunch.org/wasserman06122007.html
By HARVEY WASSERMAN
Patrick Moore has called me a "jerk." He may not be Queen Elizabeth, but it feels like being made Knight of the Realm.
Moore is a supporter of nuclear power. He is also an advocate for clear-cutting forests, genetically modified foods and a wide range of other corporate eco-assaults. The companies behind them fund Moore's "consulting" agency, which appears to specialize in greenwashing.
Military experts say worldwide water scarcity could lead to future conflict
Military experts say worldwide water scarcity could lead to future conflict
Sat Jul 7, 2:20 PM
By Michael Oliveira
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/070707/national/great_lakes_water_wars
(CP) - Some of the world's most powerful nations are getting increasingly desperate
for fresh water and observers are concerned that a day will come when countries will
fight for the dwindling resource.
Countries in the Middle East and Africa have long dealt with water shortages but now
the likes of China, India and the United States are grappling with the problem.
"Stop the TransCanada Pipeline Now"
Landowners Oppose Pipeline
http://www.keloland.com/News/NewsDetail6371.cfm?Id=0,57795
06/11/2007
TransCanada's proposed Keystone pipeline consists of 1,845 miles of 30-inch pipeline running from Alberta Canada to Illinois. The proposed route has the line going through eastern South Dakota, where it's running into opposition from landowners.
TransCanada says it would pay for long and short term damage the pipeline may cause, but some landowners are concerned with more than the money.
World oil supplies are set to run out faster than expected, warn scientists
World oil supplies are set to run out faster than expected, warn scientists
Scientists challenge major review of global reserves and warn that supplies will start to run out in four years' time
http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article2656034.ece
By Daniel Howden
Published: 14 June 2007
Scientists have criticised a major review of the world's remaining oil reserves, warning that the end of oil is coming sooner than governments and oil companies are prepared to admit.
Will the coming oil crisis be the end of suburbia?
Will the coming oil crisis be the end of suburbia?
By ERIC R. GREEN
http://www.chieftain.com/editorial/1183874885/6
Eric R Green is the library director at Lamar Community College and an adjunct sociology instructor. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone, West Africa.
Three years ago, when I started to teach Introduction to Sociology for Lamar Community College, my brother sent me the DVD, “The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream,” concerning the “coming oil crisis."
El Universal [Ven.]: Oil majors target Canada after leaving Venezuela
Oil majors target Canada after leaving Venezuela
http://english.eluniversal.com/2007/07/06/en_eco_art_oil-majors-target-c...
Oil giants have vowed to invest over USD 100 billion in projects to drill 174 billion barrels of oil in Alberta
Heavy crude oil in both Canada and Venezuela pose drilling technical difficulties and require costly enhancers to make them suitable for refineries, but unlike Venezuela, Canada offers political and tax stability
EL UNIVERSAL
Venezuelan Labourers, Big Oil Players to head to Fort Mac?
After Venezuela, Tar Sands no Quick Fix
http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSN2741612020070705
By Jeffrey Jones and Scott Haggett - Analysis
CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - For Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips it may appear simple: shift efforts, people and resources to Canada's oil sands now that the oil majors have retreated from Venezuela. In reality, it's no simple matter.
The oil sands have their own set of risks: surging costs due to a squeezed labor force, technical complexity and a shrinking pool of attractive available properties.
Locals lose out in Alberta's oil boom
Locals lose out in Alberta's oil boom
By Ian McKinnon and Reg Curren Bloomberg News
Published: June 12, 2007
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/06/11/bloomberg/bxoil.php
CALGARY: Marilynn Sjulstad says she is experiencing the pain of an oil-fueled economic boom in Alberta while deriving little benefit from it.
Sjulstad, a 57-year-old Edmonton resident who has arthritis and fibromyalgia, says her rent will soon jump 27 percent - five times the increase in her monthly disability check.
Highway, (tarsands) Pipeline Route from Houston to Kitimat (BC)
Connector route roughed out
The sections marked in red show where logging roads already exist. The blue is the “to-do’ part of the proposed Connector.
http://www.northernsentinel.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=16&cat=23&id...
By Ryan Calvery
Jul 04 2007
Although a definitive right of way has never been carved out for a Houston-Kitimat road link, one resident has mapped out a plan that involves private investment.
Transplanted wild rose likes B.C. better
Transplanted wild rose likes B.C. better
http://www.quesnelobserver.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=27&cat=48&id=...
By Andrea Johnson
Jul 08 2007
Went back to Wild Rose country a few weeks ago.
Fuelled by a major energy boom, Alberta hasn’t really changed from when I was last there two years ago.
Except for the fact both Edmonton and Calgary boast a population of more than one million, there is road construction chaos everywhere – infrastructure is crumbling.
