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
Devon Energy reports Alberta Tar Sands well leak
Devon Energy reports Alberta Oil Sands well leak
By Edward Welsch
CALGARY (MarketWatch) -- A blowout at one of Devon Energy Inc.'s oil sands wells in northeastern Alberta over the weekend sprayed an oil mist into the air for nearly 36 hours, the company and regulators said Monday.
Devon employees discovered a leak in one of the producer wells at the company's 35,000 barrel-a-day Jackfish facility mid-day Saturday and managed to seal the leak by midnight Sunday, a Devon spokeswoman said.
Total SA in Congo, Madagascar, Venezuela & Canadas' Tar Sands
French oil company plans to exploit tar sands in Congo
afrol News, 29 October - French oil company Total has announced its plans to exploit tar sands and other renewable energies in central African country of Congo.
Company's Sustainable Development and Environment Manager, Jean Michel Gires told 6th Global Forum on Sustainable Development in Brazzaville that Total has interest in both oil and gas production but said it is extending its production to tar sands.
Total to Buy UTS to Expand in Canadian Tar Sands
Total to Buy UTS to Expand in Canadian Oil Sands
July 07, 2010
By Kari Lundgren and Stephen Cunningham
July 7 (Bloomberg) -- Total SA, Europe’s second-biggest oil producer, will buy UTS Energy Corp. for C$1.5 billion ($1.4 billion) in cash and shares in a new company to boost its output from Canadian oil sands.
Rally at Canadian Embassy, White House Opposes Tar Sand Pipeline
Rally at Canadian Embassy, White House Opposes Tar Sand Pipeline
July 10, 2010
Kansas City Info Zine
By Jessica Kokesh - Environmentalists are protesting plans for a second pipeline that would send tar sands from Canada to Texas to be refined into oil.
Washington, D.C. - infoZine - Scripps Howard Foundation Wire - Environmentalists urged government officials to block construction of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline during a protest Thursday.
Michigan protests tar sands oil
Michigan protests tar sands oil
Published: July 9, 2010
DETROIT, July 9 (UPI) -- A pipeline carrying oil from tar sands in Canada to markets in the United States is an environmentally risky project, protesters in Michigan said.
Commercial deliveries of crude oil to the U.S. Midwest from the Keystone pipeline from Canada started during the last week of June.
TransCanada, the operator of the pipeline, said a U.S. leg of the pipeline includes more than 1,000 miles of new pipe to northern and Midwest states.
Corporate whining about unfair treatment of tar sands
Canadian Oil Sands Unfairly Tainted By BP Fiasco
June 21, 2010
Gordon Pape is editor and publisher of The Canada Report.
The town of Bellingham, Washington (population 75,000) made news recently when the local council passed two resolutions effectively banning the use of fuel derived from the Canadian oil sands (or "tar sands" as environmentalists prefer to call it).
CPP invests $250M in tar sands
CPP invests $250M in oilsands
Federal pension plan buys 17 per cent of Laricina Energy Ltd.
July 6, 2010
CBC News
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has paid $250 million for a stake in a small Alberta oilsands firm.
On Tuesday, Canada's largest pension plan purchased 8,333,333 shares in Laricina Energy Ltd. for $30 per share in a private placement. After the sale, CPP will own 17 per cent of the energy company.
Representatives ask Obama to examine impacts of tar sands [Keystone] pipeline
Representatives ask Obama to examine impacts of tar sands pipeline
Caitlin Sislin | Jul 06, 2010 11:55 AM
Powerful member of Congress slams Alberta to Texas tar sands pipeline
Powerful member of Congress slams Alberta to Texas tar sands pipeline
By Kevin Grandia July 6, 2010
Tyee.
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), a senior member of Congress and chair of the powerful Congressional Committee on Energy and Commerce has penned a public letter to the Secretary of State, Hilary Rodham Clinton, in which he states strong opposition to a planned oil pipeline that would transport Canada's controversial tar sands oil to the U.S. Gulf Coast.
In the letter Waxman writes:
Warning To Gulf Volunteers: Almost Every Cleanup Worker From The 1989 Exxon Valdez Disaster Is Now Dead
Warning To Gulf Volunteers: Almost Every Cleanup Worker From The 1989 Exxon Valdez Disaster Is Now Dead
Michael Snyder
Jun. 30, 2010
Are you sure that you want to help clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? In a previous article we documented a number of the health dangers from this oil spill that many scientists are warning us of, and now it has been reported on CNN that the vast majority of those who worked to clean up the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska are now dead. Yes, you read that correctly. Almost all of them are dead.
