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
Education, action forum set on [Keystone XL] pipeline [Nebraska]
Education, action forum set on pipeline
By the Lincoln Journal Star JournalStar.com |
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Pipeline expert Paul Blackburn of Plains Justice and author Mary Pipher will speak Saturday at an education and action forum about the proposed TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline.
A panel will present information on the pipeline, followed by a Q&A with attendees. The forum will run from 10-11:30 a.m. at First United Methodist Church, 2723 N. 50th St., and will wrap up with a grassroots activism training and launch of a new action guide, according to a news release.
Groups ask Upton to remember the Enbridge oil spill [Kalamazoo River]
Groups ask Upton to remember the Enbridge oil spill
Upton promises work on pipeline safety legislation
By Eartha Jane Melzer | 01.26.11
When Enbridge’s Lakehead 6B pipeline spilled a million gallons of tar sands crude into the river that runs through the heart of Rep. Fred Upton’s (R-St. Joseph) district last year, the congressman pledged aggressive action to protect the Great Lakes ecosystem.
Harper’s embrace of ‘ethical’ tar sands reignites 'dirty' arguments
Harper’s embrace of ‘ethical’ oil sands reignites 'dirty' arguments
STEVEN CHASE
OTTAWA— From Saturday's Globe and Mail (January 08, 2011)
Stephen Harper is embracing the notion that Canada’s controversial oil sands are an “ethical” source of energy, strengthening his support of the maligned resource and kicking off a new chapter in the debate over what critics call “dirty oil.”
The Prime Minister told reporters Friday that his government wants to “explain to the world” that petroleum from Western Canada’s oil sands is superior in respects to crude from other countries.
Damaged CNRL upgrader to resume production soon
Damaged oil sands upgrader to resume production soon
January 11, 2011 | 08:21
Frank Landry | QMI Agency
EDMONTON - An oilsands upgrader damaged by fire last week could resume production at half-capacity sooner than expected, says Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL).
But that will depend on whether the province gives the go-ahead.
The company said it is working with Occupational Health and Safety to determine what went wrong at the site, about 75 km north of Fort McMurray.
Madagascar Oil tax in dispute before float
Madagascar Oil tax in dispute before float
Rowena Mason
UK Telegraph 04 Jan 2011
Last month the Madagascar government announced that it planned to seize the oil group’s licences forcing Madagascar Oil to suspend trading in its shares just three weeks after the company floated on AIM.
The suspension was another blow to the reputation of the AIM market, coming just weeks after fellow oil minnow Desire Petroleum claimed to have found oil, only to admit days later that it was only water.
How Ethical Are Canada's Ethical Funds?
How Ethical Are Canada's Ethical Funds?
By Larry Powell
January 12, 2011
"Conscientious" investments and the tar sands connection
I doubt that any investors with a social conscience would assume that the
"ethical" funds they hold would be helping pay for such projects as the
Alberta oil sands.
I certainly didn't. Though it turns out, I was wrong!
All five of Canada's major banks lend money to tar sands operators. And all
five are actually included in the portfolios of the many ethical investment
funds in this country.
Tarsands pollution: Ottawa tries to ‘up its game’
Tarsands pollution: Ottawa tries to ‘up its game’
Published On Mon Dec 27 2010
The Toronto Star
After digging their heads in the tarsands for years, the governing Conservatives have seen the light: Environment Minister John Baird vowed last week to “up the federal government’s game.”
Devastation, Madagascar
Devastation, Madagascar
France's Total and US based Madagascar Oil tangle with military governments to push tar sands projects forward
Macdonald Stainsby
December 27, 2010
Mediacoop.ca
Oil Sands Truth
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Weaknesses monitoring tar sands pollution must be corrected, report says
Weaknesses monitoring oilsands pollution must be corrected, report says
By Mike De Souza, Postmedia News
December 21, 2010
OTTAWA — There are "significant" weaknesses in monitoring pollution from Alberta's oilsands sector that must be corrected, a scientific panel concluded in a report released Tuesday.
The findings were submitted to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government last week after a two-month analysis that was commissioned by former environment minister Jim Prentice.
