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
Rash of spills puts new tar sands oil pipeline on hold
Rash of spills puts new tar sands oil pipeline on hold
By Ed Brayton 10/18/10 7:40 AM Digg Tweet
U.S. State Department approval of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, a massive project that would carry crude oil from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada all the way to southern Texas, has been delayed and observers say the spill of a million gallons into a Michigan waterway is likely one key reason why. AP reports:
Activists increase scrutiny of industry
Activists increase scrutiny of industry
No Stopping Shareholders; Influence key to corporate transparency
By Shaun Polczer, Calgary Herald
October 6, 2010
Unconventional resource development such as oilsands and shale gas is increasingly drawing the attention of shareholder activists and influencing corporate decision-making, the head of one of Canada's largest integrated oil companies said in Calgary Tuesday.
Imperial's tar sands modules traverse circuitous route
Imperial's oilsands modules traverse circuitous route
By Dave Cooper, Edmonton Journal October 16, 2010
With Imperial's $8-billion Kearl oilsands project now about 25 per cent complete, the first two South Koreanmade modules have arrived by barge in Lewiston, Idaho, after a 500-kilometre trip from the U.S. West Coast.
A shipload of modules arrived on Oct. 3 at the Port of Vancouver, Wash., across from Portland on the Columbia River. The units were loaded onto barges and towed up the Columbia and Snake rivers to Lewiston.
Junior tar sands players receive legislative green lights on projects
Junior oilsands players receive legislative green lights on projects
Southern Pacific Resources and Laricina Energy get Orders in Council
By Dina O'Meara, Calgary Herald October 18, 2010
CALGARY - Junior oilsands players Southern Pacific Resources Corp. and Laricina Energy have received provincial approvals for their thermal projects in northeastern Alberta.
Keystone XL pipeline on hold amid oil's recent woes
Canada-US pipeline on hold amid oil's recent woes
By JAMES MacPHERSON and JOSH FUNK
BISMARCK, N.D.
A company waiting for the U.S. government to approve the last leg of its multibillion-dollar oil pipeline network between Canada and the United State may be running into public concerns stemming from recent oil disasters.
Some experts conclude the so-called Keystone XL pipeline is a victim of guilt by association amid the negative publicity of the Gulf Coast oil rig explosion and other spills.
Albertan NDP loves the tar sands
Oilsands closure not an option for NDP
By FRANK LANDRY, Legislature Bureau
Last Updated: October 5, 2010
Alberta’s NDP does not want to shut down the oilsands, says Leader Brian Mason.
It’s a point Mason said he wants to drive home as he tours the province, talking up the party’s policies.
“It’s part of correcting this perception that (Premier) Ed Stelmach and the Conservative government have been trying to spread about where we stand,” said Mason, in Fort McMurray on Tuesday, outlining his party’s stance on jobs and the oilsands.
Proposed oil refinery the center of political debate
Proposed oil refinery the center of political debate
Iowa politicians weigh environmental risks against potential economic gains
By Matt Vasilogambros 10/6/10
The Iowa Independent
A proposed 400,000-barrel-per-day tar sands oil refinery along the South Dakota-Iowa border is stirring an increasingly polarizing debate, bringing both environmental and economic concerns to the forefront. The refinery is even becoming an issue in the gubernatorial campaign between Republican Terry Branstad and Democrat Chet Culver.
Minnesota and Alberta Tar Sands
Minnesota and Alberta Tar Sands
By Kevin Karner, TC Daily Planet
October 11, 2010
A September 22 forum at St. Thomas University, Alberta Tar Sands: Minnesota's Dirty Oil Secret explored Minnesota's dependence on the oil sands of Alberta.
Some Nebraska Landowners Won't Make Way for Keystone XL Pipeline
Some Nebraska Landowners Won't Make Way for Keystone XL Pipeline
By Elizabeth McGowan at SolveClimate
Tue Oct 12, 2010
Editor's Note: In late September, SolveClimate News reporter Elizabeth McGowan traveled to Nebraska to find out more about the Keystone XL pipeline that TransCanada plans to build to carry crude oil from the tar sands of Alberta to Gulf Coast refineries in Texas. This is the sixth in a series. Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5 here.
It goes against our nature; but the left has to start asserting its own values
It goes against our nature; but the left has to start asserting its own values
The progressive attempt to appeal to self-interest has been a catastrophe. Empathy, not expediency, must drive our campaigns
o George Monbiot
o guardian.co.uk, Monday 11 October 2010
So here we are, forming an orderly queue at the slaughterhouse gate. The punishment of the poor for the errors of the rich, the abandonment of universalism, the dismantling of the shelter the state provides: apart from a few small protests, none of this has yet brought us out fighting.
