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
Tibetan Glaciers Are Retreating
Tibetan Glaciers Are Retreating
At An Alarming Rate
By James Hansen
20 December, 2009
Giss.nasa.gov
Glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau, sometimes called Earth's "third pole", hold the largest ice mass outside the polar regions. These glaciers act as a water storage tower for South and East Asia, releasing melt water in warm months to the Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra and other river systems, providing fresh water to more than a billion people. In the dry season glacial melt provides half or more of the water in many rivers.
"TransCanada weathers the storm." [MGP]
TransCanada weathers the storm.
Calgary Herald
Thursday, December 24th, 2009
Canwest News Service
CALGARY – TransCanada Corp. managed to weather the downturn surprisingly well.
After an uncertain start to 2009, the Calgary-based pipeline company, which operates Canada's largest natural-gas network, managed to advance its suite of growth projects despite the financial crisis and the recession.
County commission votes to oppose Keystone Pipeline
County commission votes to oppose pipeline
By PAIGE CARSWELL
Published: Wednesday, December 23, 2009 1:39 PM CST
Cowley County commissioners passed a resolution during their Tuesday morning meeting in support of denying a property tax exemption to TransCanada Keystone Pipeline.
The resolution states several reasons the exemption should not be granted, including that businesses operating within the lines of a county should “pay their fair share” and that the pipeline has not been given a tax exemption in any other state.
Lawyers, not engineers, to dominate work on carbon storage in 2010
Lawyers, not engineers, to dominate work on carbon storage in 2010
[Pembina endorses the concept of carbon capture and sequestration at the end]
By Bob Weber (CP)
December 26 2009
EDMONTON — Before you start putting carbon in the ground, you first have to put lawyers in a room.
After a year that saw billions of dollars in public funds sprayed around a variety of carbon capture and storage pilot projects, the focus in 2010 will shift from splashy press conferences to quiet boardrooms where officials will work out exactly how all that money will be spent.
Chinese tar sands takeover bid under review
Chinese oilsands takeover bid under review
Investment law says big deals must represent 'net benefit' for Canada
By Andrew Mayeda, Canwest News Service
December 19, 2009
The Harper government is quietly reviewing the $1.9-billion investment by a state-owned Chinese oil company in two oilsands projects, more than a month after the deal was originally supposed to close.
Statoil Committed To Canada's Tar Sands
December 23, 2009
Statoil Committed To Canada's Oilsands
By: Lynda Harrison
Statoil Canada Ltd. has a new Canadian president who says this country's oilsands represent a key part of the company's global strategy and his company is committed to developing them in a manner that balances social, economic and environmental concerns.
Alberta tar sands comeback predicted to fuel economic growth
Alberta oilsands comeback predicted to fuel economic growth
By MARKUS ERMISCH, QMI AGENCY
Last Updated: 24th December 2009
Following a sharp economic contraction this year, Alberta's economy is forecast to be one of Canada's fastest growing provinces in 2010.
Scotiabank economist Alex Koustas predicts that in 2010, the energy province's GDP will grow by 2.9% after shrinking 2.6% this year.
Only B.C., at 3%, is forecast to grow at a faster rate.
Shut down the Campbell Pipeline
On Saturday, December 19th, eco-activist Ingmar Lee unfurled a banner
high atop the flagpole at BC's legislature in an effort to draw
attention to the planned pipeline that will ship dirty oil from
Alberta, through the precious Great Bear Rainforest, to Kitimat BC
where it'll be processed and transported along our ragged coast by
supertankers for export. Remember the Exxon Valdez?
Ingmar tells his story here:
http://www.pacificfreepress.com/news/1/5232-climbing-the-pole-for-forest...
CHEK TV'S video is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YqRnHeCud4
Copenhagen: Obama Guts Progressive Values
Copenhagen: Obama Guts Progressive Values
— By Bill McKibben
| Fri Dec. 18, 2009
The President of the United States did several things in his agreement today with China, India, and South Africa:
Copenhagen ends in failure
"The city of Copenhagen is a crime scene tonight, with the guilty men and women fleeing to the airport." Don't feel too dirty partyers. Be sure to buy indulgences and see you when you fly in to the party at Whistler
Low targets, goals dropped: Copenhagen ends in failure
Deal thrashed out at talks damned as climate change denial in action
* http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/18/copenhagen-deal
* John Vidal, Jonathan Watts and Suzanne Goldenberg in Copenhagen
* guardian.co.uk, Saturday 19 December 2009 00.47 GMT
