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
Statoil's Alberta role an issue in election
Norwegian vote may kill oilsands stake
Statoil's Alberta role an issue in election
By Shaun Polczer, Calgary Herald
September 12, 2009
T he fate of Statoil- Hydro's oilsands investments in Canada could hinge on the outcome of Norway's general election Monday.
The presence of Norway's state-owned oil producer in northeast Alberta has emerged as a contentious issue in the country's bitterly contested vote, which some are saying is too close to call.
In glut, EnCana's big find untapped
Herein is revealed the 'true' nature of the Green Shift-- a massive resource giveaway to the worst environmental criminals on the planet.
In glut, EnCana's big find untapped
Company won't develop third-largest field until demand recovers and that
will take a major market shift
Shawn McCarthy
Ottawa -- Globe and Mail Update Last updated on Thursday, Sep. 10, 2009
08:02AM EDT
EnCana Corp is touting the Horn River shale deposits in British Columbia as the
continent's third-largest natural gas field, but needs a fundamental
Protests in Britain target Canada's tar sands
Protests in Britain target Canada's oilsands
Updated Sat. Sep. 5 2009
Ian Munroe, CTV.ca News
A handful of First Nations activists returned home last week after grabbing national headlines in England for protesting Alberta's oilsands developments.
They had travelled to a London suburb as part of a week-long gathering of several thousand environmental campaigners, dubbed the Climate Camp.
Among other concerns, the First Nations group hoped to pressure British Petroleum to halt plans for an oilsands extraction project in northern Alberta.
Tar czar: Ignatieff panders to Alberta's Big Oil
Tar czar: Ignatieff panders to Alberta's Big Oil
By Derrick O'Keefe
September 9, 2009
Near the end of Michael Ignatieff’s True Patriot Love -- an exploration of the men in his mother’s family rushed to publication in an effort to assert his Canadian bona fides -- we are treated to a play-by-play of the road trip he and his wife took in 2000, retracing the pioneering sea-to-sea journey of his great-grandfather.
Tar sands: Downplaying a mistake
Tar sands: Downplaying a mistake
By Emily Hunter
| September 8, 2009
Today I hit Calgary in my journey to the tar sands, the oil headquarters of Alberta. All the oil giants rest in this part of Albertan land -- Esso, Shell, Petro Canada -- who all have their hands in the tar sands. Here I spoke with the united face of the oil companies, CAPP (the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers). I tried to confront them in oil pains to the planet. But there answer was more of the same, that the tar sands is more or less 'sustainable.' But is this true?
Grizzlies starve as salmon disappear
Grizzlies starve as salmon disappear
As salmon numbers drop, bears are also few and far between along B.C.'s wild central coast – signalling what conservationists say is an unfolding ecological disaster
Mark Hume
Vancouver — From Wednesday's Globe and Mail Sep. 09, 2009
First the salmon vanished, now the bears may be gone too.
Coalition files lawsuit over Enbridge Alberta Clipper pipeline
Coalition files lawsuit over Enbridge Alberta Clipper pipeline
September 8, 2009
CAROL CHRISTIAN
Fort McMurray Today staff
True to their word, an environmental coalition has filed suit in California challenging the recent U.S. presidential permit granted to a controversial pipeline running from Alberta across the Canada-U.S. border to Wisconsin.
A greener Washington? Not in the pipeline
A greener Washington? Not in the pipeline
Aug 29, 2009
Southern Ontario's smog days will be even dirtier thanks to a decision by the U.S. State Department on behalf of President Barack Obama.
It has granted a presidential permit for construction of the U.S. portion of an Enbridge Inc. pipeline to carry oil – initially, 450,000 barrels a day and eventually, 800,000 barrels – from Alberta's tar sands to refineries in the U.S. Midwest, as near us as Detroit.
BP’s “Bloody Petroleum” targeted in protest by indigenous activists and Climate Camp
BP’s “Bloody Petroleum” targeted in protest by indigenous activists and Climate Camp
Yesterday at 22:01
***Post far and wide***
31st August 2009
For immediate release
BP’s “Bloody Petroleum” targeted in protest by indigenous activists and Climate Camp
Photo and filming opportunities on Tuesday September 1, 2009 from 11am (London, UK time) at the North East corner of Trafalgar Square, press conference 12.30pm (London, UK time) outside BP Headquarters, 1 St James’ Square. Photos of the day will also be available for publication by request.
Enbridge could apply for Gateway approval this year, bank says
City-B.C. oil pipeline sighted
Enbridge could apply for approval this year, bank says
Edmonton Journal
August 28, 2009
And Scotiabank commodities specialist Patricia Mohr said developing new export markets in Asia is vital if Canada is to fully exploit the economic advantage of owning the world's second-largest oil reserves.
"The Alberta oilsands represent a key 'strong suit' for the Canadian economy; the development of lucrative export outlets and transportation infrastructure for this resource is key to Canada's growth prospects," Mohr said in the report.
