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
Search Narrows for Pipeline Bomber
Search Narrows for Pipeline Bomber
Second threatening letter sets eyes on Tomslake community.
By Greg Amos, 17 Jul 2009, TheTyee.ca
The investigation related to the six northeast B.C. pipeline infrastructure bombings is narrowing in on a small community near the Alberta border, where bloodlines lead back to Sudeten Germans expelled from western Czechoslovakia after World War Two.
Is the Mackenzie Pipeline dead?
Is the Mackenzie Pipeline dead?
Peter Foster
National Post
August 18, 2009
Here’s a thorny question to pose as Prime Minister Stephen Harper moves
about the Canadian North this week promoting Arctic sovereignty and
use-it-or-lose it development: is the Mackenzie Valley natural gas
pipeline dead?
A year ago, Imperial’s CEO Bruce March declared that he was as optimistic
about Mackenzie development as he had been “in five or six years.” As
recently as January, Minister of the Environment Jim Prentice was talking
Peace wants say on massive dam
Peace wants say on massive dam
Region wants consideration before any studies on $6-billion Site C
BY SCOTT SIMPSON, CANWEST NEWS SERVICE
AUGUST 19, 2009
Northeast British Columbia won't yield to B.C. Hydro's Site C mega-hydroelectric project without a fight.
Directors of the Peace River Regional District have voted to recommend the B.C. government reject Hydro's request to undertake geotechnical surveys of potential locations for the estimated $6-billion Site C dam and its reservoir.
China, Venezuela, et al: Three energy deals, $78B
Three energy deals, $78B
August 18, 2009
While there's been a frenzy of deals in the alternative energy market, fossil fuels still dominate the numbers when it comes to consumption and investment from companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM). Note these three deals involving China and Australia, Russia and Venezuela, and Iran and Malaysia.
Alberta cuts funding for acid-rain tests
Alberta cuts funding for acid-rain tests
Edmonton — The Canadian Press
Aug. 18, 2009
Alberta has cut funding for tests to determine how much acid rain is falling in the oil sands region around Fort McMurray, according to a government document obtained by The Canadian Press.
The cut went ahead even though the briefing note for the province's Environment Minister dated Aug. 11 acknowledges acid rain is falling on the energy boomtown.
The note adds that precipitation falling in northeastern Alberta has a "similar" acidity to that falling downwind in Saskatchewan.
Canadian Oil Sands Trust (Largest member of Syncrude Consortium) Q2 earnings plummet 91%
Canadian Oil Sands Trust Q2 earnings plummet 91%
Carrie Tait, Financial Post
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Tar Sands to Keep Gulf of Mexico Full of Supply
Canada, ultradeep water assure US Gulf oil supply
Tue Aug 18, 2009
By Bruce Nichols - Analysis
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Growing volumes of crude oil from Canada and the Gulf of Mexico should assure U.S. Gulf Coast refiners adequate supplies for years to come despite fast-declining imports from Mexico and Venezuela.
Exxon boosts Pegasus Pipeline to tar sands by 50%
Exxon boosts pipeline to oil sands by 50%
By Joe Carroll, Bloomberg
Aug 17, 2009
Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s biggest oil refiner, boosted its capacity to transport crude from Canada’s oil sands to refineries in Texas and Louisiana.
Exxon Mobil increased the capacity of its 1,381-kilometre Pegasus Pipeline by 50% to about 96,000 barrels a day, the Irving, Tex.-based company said Wednesday in a statement.
The Pew Clearcuts Montana
Another Double-Dealing Democrat
Why Does Jon Tester Want to Log Wild Montana?
Weekend Edition
July 17-19, 2009
By PAUL RICHARDS
I have seen a draft of the Tester Logging Bill, to be publicly announced at the RY Sawmill in Townsend on Friday, July 17, 2009. The Tester Logging Bill is in direct contradiction to a specific May 30, 2006, campaign promise made by then-State Sen. Jon Tester to secure the votes of my supporters in the June 6, 2006, Democratic primary race for U.S. Senate.
Marathon delays Detroit refinery expansion project
Marathon delays Detroit refinery expansion project
Aug 05, 2009
DETROIT -- Marathon Oil Corporation, an integrated energy company, has announced that it is delaying the completion of the expansion of its Detroit refinery.
The company had earlier set the deadline for completion of the venture by mid-2012. It has not announced its new timeline for project completion.
The firm is upgrading the refinery to process 80,000 barrels of heavy oil per day.
© 2009 Electronic News Publishing
http://www.heavyoilinfo.com/marathon-delays-detroit-refinery-expansion-p...
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