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
NDP says funding of tar sands land reclamation is too little for the job
Funds to reclaim oilsands land fall short: NDP
Not enough security, warns auditor general
By Jason Fekete, Calgary Herald March 1, 2011
Leaked documents show the Alberta government will collect $400 million less from energy producers over the next nine years for oilsands reclamation, the NDP charges, despite the auditor general warning the province is financially at risk.
Disaster Capitalism at the Local Level: Tar Sands to Toledo
Disaster Capitalism at the Local Level
Tar Sands to Toledo
Weekend edition,
February 25 - 26, 2011
By TRUDY BOND
"I am extremely pleased with the announcement that BP has given the green light for the Sunrise project in Alberta."
-- Ohio Democratic Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur
Fracturing solidarity: The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement in context
Fracturing solidarity: The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement in context
February 22, 2011
By Dawn Paley
Briarpatch Magazine
Environmental groups urge regulations on 'tar sands' crude oil type that spilled into Kalamazoo River
Environmental groups urge regulations on 'tar sands' crude oil type that spilled into Kalamazoo River
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Chris Killian | Special to the Kalamazoo Gazette
BATTLE CREEK — Sometime this year, Congress will begin work to reauthorize funding to monitor and regulate the nation's 2.3-million mile network of hazardous liquids pipelines.
EU to tackle Canadian tar sands in new law -sources
EU to tackle Canadian tar sands in new law -sources
Wed Feb 23, 2011 3:20pm GMT
Reuters
By Pete Harrison and Juliane von Reppert-Bismarck BRUSSELS, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Europe's trade and climate chiefs are preparing to take a stand against imports of oil from Canada's polluting tar sands, despite fears the move might wreck a multi-billion dollar trade deal, according to EU sources and documents.
European Union sources said this week that Canada had threatened to pull out of trade talks because of the clash, but Ottawa has denied that. [ID:nLDE71H14V]
Madagascar Oil standoff with island government continues (corporate report)
[For background to this story, check here:
http://www.mediacoop.ca/story/devastation-madagascar/5524 ]
Madagascar Oil standoff with island government continues
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
by Andre Lamberti
Madagascar Oil’s standoff with the government is still continuing and the group said it remains extremely concerned by the delays that have been incurred since the initial meeting on December 16 2010 in which the island’s Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons (MMH) said it was interested in buying the company's licences.
The stock remains suspended at 75 pence.
Opti-Nexen's Long Lake plant not producing targets...
Long Lake oil sands output may lag targets
Thu Feb 10, 2011
By Scott Haggett and Jeffrey Jones
CALGARY, Alberta, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Nexen Inc, the operator of the Long Lake oil sands project, warned that output may fall short of forecasts because of operational problems that analysts say may take heavy spending to fix.
Nexen shares dropped more 3 percent on Thursday when it said January output fell at the underperforming oil sands project in the Canadian province of Alberta.
Exporting [tar sands] energy [through Thunder Bay].
Exporting energy
2011-02-07
By Jodi Lundmark,
tbnewswatch.com
According to the president of the Oil Sands Developers Groups, Thunder Bay's port and rail lines make the city an important gateway for oil exports.
It might surprise people to know that more than 21 per cent of the United States’ crude oil comes from Canada, said the president of the Oil Sands Developers Group.
Broker makes financial predictions in tar sands
Investing In the Oil Sands: 4 Stocks
Frank J. Constantino
February 13, 2011
It seems everyone, including investors, are coming to grips with the fact that higher crude oil prices are here to stay. The fact is, the U.S., China, and other world economies have a insatiable demand for oil. While we are dependent on the Middle East for most of our oil, there are alternatives. The Canadian oil sands region is in the Alberta region of Canada. This massive area of oil reserves is second in size only to Saudi Arabia.
ISRAEL: A controversial shale project and energy security
ISRAEL: A controversial shale project and energy security
February 6, 2011
LA Times
The suspension of Egyptian gas supply to Israel has lighted a fire under the feet of Israeli officials, businessmen and shareholders trying to assess how events in Egypt will affect Israel's energy economy.
Initial assessments that it is in Egypt's interests to keep the lucrative gas deals with Israel may prove right when the dust settles. But the shake-up in Egypt is a wake-up call for Israel, too.
