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
ConocoPhilips Selling Off 9% Syncrude Stake
All eyes on $4B Syncrude stake
By Deborah Yedlin, Calgary Herald
October 30, 2009
ConocoPhillips' stake in Syncrude is up for grabs. Will the taker be an existing co-owner of Syncrude or will a new player--even a foreign national oil company--buy it as an entree into the oilsands?
Who is going to buy ConocoPhillips' nine per cent interest in Syncrude?
SD ranchers voice concerns about Keystone pipeline
SD ranchers voice concerns about Keystone pipeline
By CHET BROKAW (AP) November 4, 2009
PIERRE, S.D. — Ranchers who live along the route of a crude oil pipeline that TransCanada Keystone wants to build across western South Dakota said Tuesday they are worried about oil spills and damage to their land, water and roads.
Enbridge Talking itself up to investors
Nov 4, 2009 1:35:00 PM MST
Enbridge boosts 2009 outlook, expects growth ''well into next decade'' (Enbridge)
CALGARY _ Enbridge Inc. (TSX:ENB) increased its 2009 guidance and exuded confidence Wednesday that it could maintain steady growth into the next decade.
"It´s safe to say that we are on track to deliver a record growth year for Enbridge," president and CEO Pat Daniel said on a conference call with analysts.
Exxon Mobil takes over UTS Energy tar sand leases
Approximately a year ago, at the outset of the economic crash, the debate became whether or not the economic slow down in the tar sands would be good for tar sands resistance. Some stated that the medium to small players would lose out and that at the other end of the temporary slow down would be mega-energy companies with a strangle hold on production and future leases, leaving our work harder to resist, not easier.
Devon to seek approval for third phase of Jackfish Lake
Devon to seek approval for oilsands project
Company plans third phase of Jackfish Lake
By Shaun Polczer, Calgary Herald
November 4, 2009
CALGARY - In another sign the log jam of stalled oilsands projects may be easing, Devon Energy Corp. on Wednesday said it plans to seek approval in 2010 for the third phase of its Jackfish Lake thermal project.
The Pew funds Canada: Canadian Boreal Initiative
The Pew funds Canada: Canadian Boreal Initiative
from "Offsetting Resistance: The effects of foundation funding from the Great Bear Rainforest to the Athabasca River", a special report by Dru Oja Jay and Macdonald Stainsby. Released September, 2009.
The Canadian Boreal Initiative (CBI) is funded by grants from The Pew Charitable Trusts. The CBI is a project of Ducks Unlimited Canada, which receives money directly from oil companies and other industrial operators.
Land-use planner Petr Cizek notes that the CBI has evolved quickly in a few years.
Mackenzie pipeline fiscal talks continue-Imperial
The news was that funding for the pipeline had been killed, and we had at the least a temporary victory over this evil pipeline plan through the Deh Cho valley. This minor but real victory was giving us much needed breathing room away from this pipeline and the backdoor, no-public-input sell out by the WWF, CPAWS and the CBI to promote the Nahanni as a "victory" when it was a sop given by the Feds to allow them to use *our money* to build the MGP.
Farmland will be destroyed [South Dakota tar sands refinery plans]
Farmland will be destroyed
Dean Spader • Vermillion • November 1, 2009
Thank you to the Argus Leader for printing the Oct. 13 My Voice column from James Heisinger pointing out pollution problems at the proposed Hyperion oil refinery in Union County. Heisinger was correct when he wrote that "Hyperion's clean-and-green promises (are) a myth."
Hyperion plans to refine the dirtiest crude oil on the continent (Canadian tar sands crude oil), and as a result, even Hyperion admits that this refinery will release more carbon dioxide per barrel than any other refinery in the nation.
‘Get off our property!’
‘Get off our property!’
This article was published on Oct 1, 2009 in the News section
Lawsuit seeks to halt expansion of Athabasca tar sands into Cree territory
Alex Ross
theVarsity.ca
Alberta-Superior pipeline takes center stage in world climate debate (Clipper)
BusinessNorth Exclusives
Alberta-Superior pipeline takes center stage in world climate debate
10/27/2009
by Richard Thomas
On Aug. 20, the U.S. State Department granted a Presidential permit for the 1,000-mile “Alberta Clipper” pipeline from Canada’s Alberta oil sands to Superior, due for completion in mid-2010.
On Sept. 2 Enbridge (U.S.) Inc., the partner of Canada-based Enbridge, celebrated in Carlton County, where the company had stacks of pipes ready for construction.
