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
Defenders of the Land, Private Property Abolitionists
Defenders of the Land, Private Property Abolitionists-- By Shiri Pasternak
Indigenous peoples in Canada have marked the geographical limits of
capitalist expansion through more than five centuries of permanent
resistance. Due to the geography of residual Aboriginal lands, they form a
final frontier of capitalist penetration for natural resource extraction,
agribusiness, and urban/suburban development. While much of the focus of
the economic crisis has centred on foreclosures and job losses in the
manufacturing and service sectors, a renewed push for resources – e.g. tar
Consultation means nothing without consent
Consultation means nothing without consent
June 16, 2009
Three First Nation Band Councils released a joint statement last month in response to the newly proposed Ontario Mining Act, once again raising a critical issue that the Government of Ontario and the Supreme Court of Canada has repeatedly failed to recognize: The right to Say NO.
In effect, the absence of this right (the right of consent) in the Ontario Mining Act or any other piece of legislation in Canada is an allowance by the government to molest Indigenous People.
New Climate Report: From Bad to Worse
New Climate Report: From Bad to Worse
By Bryan Walsh
Wednesday, Jun. 17, 2009
Time
Even as Congress belatedly tackles legislation that would cut U.S. carbon emissions and international negotiators have bickered over a global climate deal in Bonn, a new report by several federal agencies underscores the truths that too often risk getting lost in politics: global warming is real, it's happening now and if we don't act soon, the consequences are likely to be catastrophic.
Sinkholes surface along Keystone route
Sinkholes surface along Keystone route
Kevin Bonham, Grand Forks Herald
June 17, 2009
A small series of sinkholes — some 30 to 40 feet deep that have swallowed a handful of 20- to 30-foot pine trees — developed this spring in the sandy soil of the Pembina Escarpment along the TransCanada Keystone Pipeline route, limiting access to a spectacular panoramic view of the Pembina Gorge from a North Dakota Forest Service lookout.
The first sinkhole was discovered in March on the pipeline right-of-way along the Cavalier-Pembina county line.
Hibernia South ready to start
Hibernia South ready to start
Nfld. Project; Construction may begin as soon as next year
By Claudia Cattaneo, Financial Post
June 16, 2009
CALGARY - Exxon Mobil Corp. is hoping to commence construction as soon as next year on a southern extension to the Hibernia oil project offshore Newfoundland, Mark Albers, senior vice-president, told analysts yesterday.
Can oil deal prompt return to The Rock?
Can oil deal prompt return to The Rock?
Nathan VanderKlippe and Shawn McCarthy
Calgary, Ottawa — Globe and Mail
Tuesday, Jun. 16, 2009
Is the smell of the sea sweeter than the scent of Alberta crude?
Danny Williams thinks so. The Newfoundland and Labrador Premier trumpeted a major deal yesterday to expand the Hibernia offshore oil platform as another leap forward by a province that has already lured home thousands of workers.
Federal Court Approves of Regulatory Proceedings as an Appropriate Method to Address Aboriginal Concerns
Federal Court Approves of Regulatory Proceedings as an Appropriate Method to Address Aboriginal Concerns
Source: Fasken Martineau - On May 12, 2009, Mr. Justice Barnes of the Federal Court released his Reasons in Brokenhead Ojibway Nation v. Canada, 2009 FC 484. The court upheld the Governor in Council's approval of the National Energy Board's issuance of Certificates of Public Convenience and Necessity for the construction of three pipeline projects. The projects are the Keystone Pipeline Project, the Southern Lights Pipeline Project and the Alberta Clipper Pipeline Expansion Project.
Cree lawsuit would drain energy royalties
Cree lawsuit would drain energy royalties
Native band says 15,000 oilsands developments planned on ancestral land
By Elise Stolte, Edmonton Journal
June 12, 2009
The amount Alberta owes First Nations affected by oilsands development could
easily outstrip all the royalties the province has earned off the resource
if courts rule in favour of native bands, said a lawyer for the Beaver Lake
Cree Nation on Thursday.
"We're all expecting an onslaught (of lawsuits) in the next little while,"
said Drew Mildon of Woodwards and Company. "People are reaching their limit
of patience."
Alberta tar sands, nuclear power proposals connected, says Calgary-based journalist
Alberta tar sands, nuclear power proposals connected, says Calgary-based journalist
DAMIEN WOOD - Herald-Tribune staff
June 16, 2009
The issues surrounding oil production from the tar sands and nuclear power plants being proposed in Alberta are integrally woven together, says journalist Andrew Nikiforuk.
The Calgary-based business journalist was in Grande Prairie Thursday to give a presentation at the Golden Age Centre based on his latest book, Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of the Continent.
Bin explodes near site of previous B.C. pipeline explosions
Bin explodes near site of previous B.C. pipeline explosions
Explosion near the site of 4 previous still under investigation
Canwest News Service
June 12, 2009
Police probe the site of an earlier explosion targeting a sour-gas well in the B.C. Interior. RCMP confirmed Friday they are investigating an explosion in a large bear-proof garbage bin near Dawson Creek sometime overnight.
