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
Draft Land Use Plan Infringes Treaty 8
Draft Land Use Plan Infringes Treaty 8
First Nations in Oil Sands Region say that the Lower Athabasca Regional Plan does not protect enough land and resources to sustain their traditional livelihood and creates legal risk for Alberta
April 8, 2011, Fort McMurray
Montana issues permit for Imperial Oil test module
Montana issues permit for Imperial Oil test module
Associated Press, 04.11.11, 02:53 PM EDT
LEWISTON, Idaho -- The Montana Department of Transportation has issued a permit that would allow Imperial Oil to haul a huge load of refinery equipment from Idaho into Montana on its way to an oil sands project in Alberta, Canada.
Montana issued the permit to Imperial Oil on Friday, clearing the way for the 500,000-pound test load to leave the Port of Lewiston as early as Monday night.
Debate stirred over 1st major US tar sands mine
Debate stirred over 1st major US tar sands mine
AP
By CHI-CHI ZHANG, Associated Press – Sun Apr 10 2011
SALT LAKE CITY – Beneath the lush, green hills of eastern Utah's Uinta Basin, where elk, bear and bison outnumber people, the soil is saturated with a sticky tar that may soon provide a new domestic source of petroleum for the United States. It would be a first-of-its kind project in the country that some fear could be a slippery slope toward widespread wilderness destruction.
NY Times Editorial: No to a New Tar Sands Pipeline
No to a New Tar Sands Pipeline
Published: April 2, 2011
New York Times
Later this year, the State Department will decide whether to approve construction of a 1,700-mile oil pipeline from Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast called Keystone XL. The underground 36-inch pipeline, built by TransCanada, would link the tar sands fields of northern Alberta to Texas refineries and begin operating in 2013. The department should say no.
Enormous Kearl-bound tar sands shipments target of Montana lawsuit
Enormous Kearl-bound oilsands shipments target of Montana lawsuit
By: The Canadian Press
Posted: 04/1/2011
CALGARY - The Government of Montana is being challenged in court over its decision to approve the shipment of enormous truckloads of oilsands equipment through the state to northern Alberta.
Missoula County and three environmental groups say in a lawsuit that the state Transportation Department made the wrong decision in allowing the shipments and are demanding a full environmental impact assessment.
Enbridge wants help on Gateway during the election
Enbridge pushes for political support of oil sands pipeline
CARRIE TAIT
CALGARY— From Friday's Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Mar. 31, 2011
Pat Daniel, Enbridge Inc.’s (ENB-T60.180.761.28%) soft-spoken but increasingly vocal chief executive office, wants Canada’s role in the global energy market to become an election issue, publicly pressuring politicians to support his company’s controversial oil sands pipeline – an unusual and risky tactic that highlights the growing resistance to the project.
Madagascar tar sands: the bloody truth
Madagascar tar sands: the bloody truth
A short briefing on tar sands in the Melaky region of Madagascar.
http://www.wdm.org.uk/clean-banks/madagascar-tar-sands-bloody-truth
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Republicans press Obama to approve Keystone XL pipeline
Republicans press Obama to approve oilsands pipeline
By Sheldon Alberts, Postmedia News March 31, 2011
WASHINGTON — The heated policy debate over Alberta's oilsands took centre stage Thursday in the U.S. Congress, with Republican lawmakers claiming President Barack Obama has "failed to act" swiftly enough to ensure a secure long-term supply of Canadian crude.
Tar Sands and Water: Fort MacKay and Fort Chipewyan
Interviews with residents of Fort MacKay and Fort Chip, regarding cultural and environmental situations for their communities, especially with respect to the water coming from tar sands operation areas that are allegedly responsible for statistically impossible rates of cancer.
Sally Mauk: First Nations activists see changes since tar sands
Sally Mauk: First Nations activists see changes since tar sands
By SALLY MAUK for the Missoulian missoulian.com |
Friday, March 18, 2011
I was standing on South Reserve Street in Missoula in the wee hours of the morning recently to report on the transport of two enormous coke drum halves and their impressive entourage of trucks and law enforcement as they snaked past a few dozen chanting protesters.
Waiting for the drums to arrive, I thought about the conversation I had the week before with two Canadians who live in northern Alberta near the world's second-largest deposit of oil.
