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
Exxon joins TransCanada's Alaska pipeline project
Exxon joins TransCanada's Alaska pipeline project
Carrie Tait and Claudia Cattaneo, Financial Post
Thursday, June 11, 2009
CALGARY -- The world's largest publicly owned energy company has thrown its weight behind TransCanada Corp.'s effort to build a natural gas pipeline from Alaska North Slope to the rest of the United States, a move which could jam a stake through the heart of a rival pipeline plan and further haunt Canada's stalled Mackenzie Valley pipeline.
TransCanada, ExxonMobil commit to $26B US Alaska gas pipeline
Never believe this nonsense about the MGP being canceled by the Alaska Highway Pipeline or vice versa. With the projected/planned growth of the tar pits, plus peak gas, these pipelines are both "needed" by the industrial society controlling Turtle Island. THe math is fairly clear on the subject.
--M
TransCanada, ExxonMobil commit to $26B US Alaska gas pipeline
Last Updated: Thursday, June 11, 2009
CBC News
TransCanada Corporation said Thursday it has struck a deal with ExxonMobil to develop an Alaska gas pipeline at an initial projected cost of $26 billion US.
Oil and Indians Don't Mix
Oil and Indians Don't Mix
by Greg Palast
Friday, June 12, 2009
For Air America Radio's Ring of Fire
There's an easy way to find oil. Go to some remote and gorgeous natural sanctuary, say Alaska or the Amazon, find some Indians, then drill down under them.
If the indigenous folk complain, well, just shoo-them away. Shoo-ing methods include: bulldozers, bullets, crooked politicians and fake land sales.
It's Official - The Era of Cheap Oil Is Over: Energy Department Changes Tune on Peak Oil
FRIDAY 12 JUNE 2009
It's Official - The Era of Cheap Oil Is Over: Energy Department Changes Tune on Peak Oil
by: Michael T. Klare | Visit article original @ TomDispatch.com
Release: Chicago Wilderness and British Petroleum
June 9, 2009
Melinda Pruett-Jones
Executive Director
Chicago Wilderness
Patricia Cassady
Corporate Council Coordinator
Chicago Wilderness
Dear Ms. Pruett-Jones:
Again, sadly British Petroleum Whiting Refinery in northwest Indiana is in
the headlines for polluting our environment with the release of benzene, a
cancer causing chemical. One reaction to this latest violation is from 19
members of Congress calling for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to
conduct a comprehensive review of all BP permits (see below). Another
Government and Corporate ENGO's to use Nahanni Park as smokescreen to Industrialize the Northwest Territories
Let's just unpack some of this bullshit and put it out on the table, shall we?
Good!
Here's the point of all this. The Mackenzie Gas Project will devastate the Beaufort Delta, ravage the Colville Hills region of the Sahtu, begin a process of colonial settler population transfers to the Valley where up until this day there is still a majority of the population Dene. This will include a highway, and the "temporary" migration of 1000's of workers near small communities like Wrigley/Pedzheh Kí who currently have populations of about 200 people.
South Dakota board to hear arguments on tar-sands refinery
South Dakota board to hear arguments on oil-sands refinery
API SmartBrief | 05/18/2009
The South Dakota Board of Minerals and Environment will begin hearing arguments Tuesday from Texas-based Hyperion and its opponents on the company's plans to build a $10 billion oil refinery to process crude oil from Canadian oil-sands sites. Hyperion needs an air-quality permit in order to finish its contracting process, finalize agreements on pipeline construction and hire companies to do the work. Houston Chronicle (05/17)
Suncor, Petro-Canada merger approved
Suncor, Petro-Canada merger approved
June 5, 2009
CAROL CHRISTIAN
Fort McMurray Today staff
Suncor Energy and Petro-Canada shareholders gave overwhelming support yesterday for the proposed merger of the two companies to become Canada's largest energy company in a deal worth $22.2 billion.
Petro-Canada shareholders were the first to approve the deal at more than 96% in favour. At a later meeting, Suncor shareholders vote 98% in favour of the merger. After the vote John Ferguson, chairman of the board, said it was a historic day for the two companies and a great day for Canada.
High Gas Prices Could Slow Recovery
High Gas Prices Could Slow Recovery
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS
Published: June 8, 2009
HOUSTON — After just a few months of relief at the pump, cheap gasoline is disappearing.
Gas prices have risen 41 days in a row, to a national average of almost $2.62 a gallon. That is a sharp increase from the low of $1.62 a gallon that prevailed at the end of last year.
Court rules against Chevron, city of Richmond in environmental review (San Fran)
Court rules against Chevron, city of Richmond in environmental review
By Katherine Tam
West County Times
06/05/2009
A Contra Costa Superior Court judge has ruled that the environmental document covering Chevron's bid to replace equipment at its Richmond refinery to refine a wider range of crude is insufficient and vague.
"Project description is unclear and inconsistent as to whether project will or will not enable Chevron to process a heavier crude slate than it is currently processing," Judge Barbara Zuniga wrote.
