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
Suncor refinery [Colorado] was slammed with OSHA fines
Suncor refinery slammed with OSHA fines
By Andy Vuong
The Denver Post
Posted: 03/07/2009
The refinery employs about 400 people and produces roughly a third of Colorado's gasoline.
Suncor Energy faces $130,500 in penalties for more than two dozen health and safety violations at its refinery in Commerce City.
Suncor allegedly failed to test monitors properly for hydrogen sulfide, a toxic and flammable gas, and failed to follow safety standards while processing hazardous chemicals, according to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which issued the citations.
Suncor planning to grow tar sands business
Suncor planning to grow oilsands business
By MARKUS ERMISCH, SUN MEDIA
Last Updated: 3rd December 2009
Investors need not fear Suncor Energy is moving away from being an oilsands-dominated company after merging with Petro-Canada, an executive told an energy conference in Miami yesterday.
Prior to its merger with Petro-Canada, Suncor's business consisted of 80% oilsands and 20% of what John Rogers called "other stuff," such as natural gas and downstream operations.
Statoil chief discusses priorities in his first Canadian interview
Lars Christian Bacher: Statoil's oil sands pragmatist
Statoil chief discusses priorities in his first Canadian interview
Nathan Vanderklippe
CALGARY —
Globe and Mail
Saturday, Dec. 05, 2009
When Statoil ASA brought Lars Christian Bacher to Calgary, the company named him president of its Canadian operations and gave him a mandate to get bitumen out of the oil sands - and, when that's done, think about getting more of the land around Fort McMurray into the portfolio.
Enbridge Gateway Pipeline review draws criticism
Pipeline review draws criticism
Environmentalists say scope of hearings is too narrow
By Judith Lavoie, Times Colonist
December 5, 2009
Federal terms of reference for assessing the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline brought instant condemnation from environmental groups yesterday.
The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and the National Energy Board announced they will hold open forums on the pipeline, which would run from the Alberta oilsands to a port at Kitimat.
Climate talks target Alberta's tar sands
Climate talks target Alberta's oilsands
By Kelly Cryderman, Calgary Herald
December 6, 2009
As the world works toward the most important climate change agreement since Kyoto in 1997, the Canadian delegation will walk into the Copenhagen conference with a big, black bull's-eye on its back.
The sore spot--the increasing greenhouse gas emissions from Alberta's oilsands--will be as inescapable as Danish pastries when 192 countries gather in Copenhagen for 12 days beginning Monday.
Suncor to sell Shell gas in Colorado
Suncor to sell Shell gas in Colorado
April 09, 2009 - DENVER -- Suncor Energy (U.S.A.) Inc. reached a marketing agreement with Shell Oil Products U.S., allowing Suncor to sell Shell-branded gasoline in Colorado, the Denver Business Journal reported.
Suncor Energy (U.S.A.)—the Denver-based U.S. unit of Calgary, Alberta-based Suncor Energy Inc., which recently agreed to merge with
Petro-Canada—currently has an agreement to sell Phillips 66-brand gas in Colorado, which expires in July 2013, according to the report. Terms of the deal were not announced.
'EnCana bomber' has quit: locals
'EnCana bomber' has quit: locals
Last Updated: Wednesday, December 2, 2009
CBC News
A 1.8-metre-wide crater left after an explosion in October 2008, about 50 kilometres east of Dawson Creek in northern B.C.A 1.8-metre-wide crater left after an explosion in October 2008, about 50 kilometres east of Dawson Creek in northern B.C. (RCMP)After five months of quiet, people in northeastern B.C. seem to believe the so-called "EnCana bomber" won't strike again.
Clay County commissioners reach impasse on Keystone crossing fees
Clay County commissioners reach impasse on Keystone crossing fees
Pipelines International, December 01, 2009
Commissioners from Clay County in Kansas, United States of America, have instructed the County Highway Department to refrain from issuing any road crossing permits required to construct TransCanada’s Keystone Pipeline until the issue of road crossing fees has been resolved.
Clay County has proposed a “road crossing fee” of $US1,500 for each road crossed by the Keystone Pipeline in their county.
Jim Hansen Takes on NRDC and Bank of America
Jim Hansen Takes on NRDC and Bank of America
November 30th, 2009
Will the media and policy makers finally wake up and pay attention after the world’s leading global warming scientists takes the extraordinary and unprecedented step to publicly criticize US national environmental groups for their lax posture on global warming?
Or will the mighty Obama Administration, Democratic Washington DC beltway, and corporate PR Wurlitzer continue to dominate US public opinion?
Full article, with important and informative photos:
The Most Urgent Threat to World Peace Is … Canada
The Most Urgent Threat to World Peace Is … Canada
By George Monbiot, Monbiot.com. Posted December 2, 2009.
The harm this country could do in the next two weeks will outweigh all the good it has done in a century.
