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
Oil pipeline to West Coast makes 'strategic sense'
Oil pipeline to West Coast makes 'strategic sense'
Syncrude chief says proposal would diversify Alberta's markets
Lisa Schmidt
Victoria Times Colonist
September 19, 2009
The head of Canada's biggest oilsands producer says a pipeline to the West
Coast makes strategic sense to help diversify Alberta's export markets.
But Tom Katinas, chief executive of Syncrude Canada Ltd., told the Global
Business Forum in Banff., that the U.S. will remain Canada's key buyer.
"I would love to see a pipeline that goes from Alberta out to the West
"Tar sands need positive spin"-- Diane Francis
Good to see Ms Francis up to her usual turgid nonsense.
-M
Oil sands need positive spin
Diane Francis, Financial Post
September 19, 2009
Alberta and Canada have an image problem and it's called the oil sands. Non-government organizations such as Greenpeace and others have made these gigantic open-pit mining operations their current whipping boy. And by deploying hyperbole or inaccuracies, these organizations are winning the public relations game in the United States where the lion's share of this oil is destined.
High-frequency trades cited for OPTI share surge
OPTI, in partnership with Nexen, is parented by Israeli corporation Ormat (who also own many shares in the ostensibly Canadian OPTI) and uses the worst climate changing form of procedure available-- borrowed from Ormat who patented it in historical Palestine as "Or Crude", called "cogeneration" in Canada. It's a procedure of burning the waste gunk from the bottom of a previously extracted barrel to power the operations of getting more bitumen.
Inuvik businesses hit by MGM Energy's drilling delay
Inuvik businesses hit by MGM Energy's drilling delay
Friday, September 18, 2009
CBC News
Some businesses in Inuvik, N.W.T., have less work lined up for the coming months after a Canadian gas exploration company said it won't explore in the region this winter.
MGM Energy Corp. announced this week that it will postpone drilling in the Mackenzie Delta region in the 2009-10 winter drilling season, citing continued uncertainty surrounding the proposed Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline project.
Alberta Clipper oil pipeline project creates housing crunch in Bemidji
Alberta Clipper oil pipeline project creates housing crunch in Bemidji
Posted: Sep 16, 2009
BEMIDJI, Minn. (AP) -- The influx of workers building the new Alberta Clipper oil pipeline across northern Minnesota has meant a shortage of rental housing in the Bemidji area.
Some homeowners are renting rooms to pipeline workers and a local hotel that's been closed for several years may reopen as construction activity ramps up.
NWT minister bullish on both Arctic gas pipelines
NWT minister bullish on both Arctic gas pipelines
Fri Sep 18, 2009
By Yereth Rosen
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Despite economic recession, financial skittishness and emergence of alterative supplies, the energy minister for Canada's Northwest Territories said Thursday he is confident the huge gas pipelines from both the Mackenzie Valley and Alaska's North Slope will be built and will supply North American markets.
Mackenzie delays prompt MGM to put Arctic drilling plans on ice this winter
Mackenzie delays prompt MGM to put Arctic drilling plans on ice this winter
By Lauren Krugel (CP)
September 17, 2009
CALGARY — MGM Energy Corp. (TSX:MGM), a junior company focused on exploiting natural gas in the high Arctic, is putting its drilling plans on ice this winter as uncertainty persists around the development of the Mackenzie pipeline.
"With really nothing going ahead, we just couldn't justify spending the money and drilling the wells," Henry Sykes, president of the Calgary-based company told an energy conference hosted by Calgary brokerage Peters & Co. Wednesday.
Greenpeace Ends Shutdown Occupation of Albian Sands Muskeg River Mine
Greenpeace ends Alberta oilsands protest
Last Updated: Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Protesters from Greenpeace occupied two dump trucks and unfurled a banner on the ground at Shell's Albian Sands oilsands site in northern Alberta Tuesday.
The Greenpeace protest at the Albian Sands oilsands site north of Fort McMurray, Alta., ended peacefully Wednesday afternoon after the company and RCMP agreed to let the protesters leave without facing any charges.
The deal was revealed after protesters met with Shell officials and the RCMP.
Residents of Peace River region call gas development 'a tsunami' as saboteur's deadline passes
BC Pipeline Bombings
Residents of Peace River region call gas development 'a tsunami' as saboteur's deadline passes
Chris Arsenault
Vue Weekly, September 15, 2009.
Suncor ‘all about the tar sands' again
Suncor ‘all about the oil sands' again
After its merger with Petro-Canada, Canada's biggest energy company is backing away from natural gas
Shawn McCarthy
Toronto — Globe and Mail
Sep. 16, 2009
Canada's biggest energy company is putting natural gas on the back burner.
Suncor Energy Inc. plans to sell a significant portion of the natural gas portfolio it inherited from Petro-Canada as it prepares to restart its expansion plans in the oil sands.
