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
B.C. launches major stimulus program for oil and gas
B.C. launches major stimulus program for oil and gas
By Shaun Polczer, Calgary Herald
August 6, 2009
CALGARY - The British Columbia government this morning announced a major stimulus program to kick-start its oil and gas industry, including a package of royalty incentives and legislative changes.
In a statement, the government said the program is designed to produce "immediate economic benefits" for the province.
Canadians want tar sands production cut
Canadians want oil sands production cut
Survey respondents also want to see provinces – not just Ottawa – at coming climate-change talks in Copenhagen
Brian Laghi
Globe and Mail
Aug. 03, 2009
Provincial premiers will meet in Regina this week amid new poll results that show a majority of Canadians think oil sands production should be cut as Canada grapples with reducing greenhouse gases.
Global Peak Oil In 10 Years - IEA Sounds Alarm
Global Peak Oil In 10 Years - IEA Sounds Alarm
by Energy Matters bookmark or share this page follow us on twitter
Global peak oil rapidly approaching
In an interview with the UK's The Independent, Dr Fatih Birol, the chief economist at the International Energy Agency (IEA), sounded an alarm that global oil production is likely to peak in around 10 years; far earlier than most governments had foreseen. The International Energy Agency is an intergovernmental organisation which acts as energy policy advisor to 28 member countries, including Australia.
ACFN member climbs flagpole to protest tar sands
ACFN member climbs flagpole to protest oilsands
Activists call on wife of RBC CEO to help protect communities
By SHAWN BELL, SRJ Reporter 05.AUG.09
An Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation member climbed a 50-foot flagpole in downtown Toronto on July 29 to protest the Royal Bank of Canada’s (RBC) involvement in financing the oilsands.
Eriel Deranger was one of two Rainforest Action Network (RAN) protesters who hung a 30-foot high banner in front of RBC’s Canadian headquarters, calling on the wife of RBC’s CEO to encourage her husband to withdraw financing for new oilsands projects.
Tar Sands Protesters Hang Banner at RBC’s Toronto Headquarters
Tar Sands Protesters Hang Banner at RBC’s Toronto Headquarters
By Sean B. Pasternak and Doug Alexander
July 28 (Bloomberg) -- Protesters hung a 15-foot-long banner at the Toronto headquarters of Royal Bank of Canada, asking the wife of Chief Executive Officer Gordon Nixon to help end the bank’s involvement in funding tar sands projects.
Clean energy, not photo-op, should be premiers' priority
Clean energy, not photo-op, should be premiers' priority
Provincial agreement on pollution standards would clear the way for action by Ottawa
Aug 05, 2009
Rick Smith
Executive Director of Environmental Defence
When Canada's premiers gather each year, they usually are so concerned with polite, and boring, diplomacy that the only thing that makes the news is the picture of the provincial leaders all wearing the same themed clothing. Cowboy hats for everyone!
Nuclear Power Causes Cancer: What Industry Doesn't Want You To Know
Nuclear Power Causes Cancer: What Industry Doesn't Want You To Know
Samuel Epstein,
Cancer prevention expert, prof. emeritus at U. of IL School of Public Health, Chicago
August 4, 2009
Huffington Post
Palin's Pipeline: Clean Energy for the Lower 48 or Power for the Tar Sands?
Palin's Pipeline: Clean Energy for the Lower 48 or Power for the Tar Sands?
by Abby Schultz - Jun 29th, 2009
Where the natural gas from the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline will end up is a murky question tied up in a 30-year-old treaty, expansion of Canadian tar sands operations, and trends in natural gas supplies both in the United States and in Canada.
Irving Oil and BP Will Not Proceed With Proposed Second Refinery
Irving Oil and BP Will Not Proceed With Proposed Second Refinery
Release date: 24 July 2009
BP and Irving Oil announced today they will not be moving forward at this time with the proposed second refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick, as a result of global economic and industry conditions
The joint technical and commercial feasibility study that the two companies have been conducting over the last 18 months concluded that the project was not viable at a time of global economic recession and dampening forecasts for petroleum product demand in North America.
Dene Chief Upset Over Canadian Defence Report
Dene Chief Upset Over Canadian Defence Report
By SHAWN BELL, SRJ Reporter 21.JUL.09
Bill Erasmus Dene National Chief
The Dene Nation has denounced a new report that claims Treaty 8 First Nations pose a threat of violence to oilsands and other resource development in Western Canada.
The report, prepared for the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute by Tom Flanagan, states that incidences of violence and protests over resource development will continue as Aboriginal rights and environmentalist movements grow.
