Alberta Tar Sands is a category limited to the location and production of tar sand bitumen, an area the size of the state of Florida in northern Alberta province. The giant processing plants near Fort McMurray where the land itself is strip mined as well as the primarily "in situ" in-ground steam separation/production and extraction plants in the Peace and Cold Lake Regions, all in Alberta, are the "Ground Zero" of the single largest industrial gigaproject ever proposed in human history.
The process of removing the tar from the sand involves incredible amounts of energy from clean-burning natural gas (with nuclear proposed along side), tremendous capital costs during build up, incredibly high petroleum prices to protect investments, and the largest single industrial contribution to climate change in North America. Production also involves the waste of fresh water from nearby lakes, rivers and aquifers that have already created toxic tailing ponds visible from outer space. None of the land strip mined has yet to be certified as reclaimed. It takes 4 tonnes of soil to produce one barrel of oil. The tar sands are producing over 1.2 million barrels of oil a day on average. The oil companies, Canada and the United States governments are proposing to escalate production to 5 million barrels, almost all destined for American markets-- and lower environmental standards while doing so. They also would need to violate the national and human rights of many indigenous nations who are rightly concerned about many dire social, environmental and economic repercussions on their communities.
To get the needed energy supplies, diluent for the bitumen and diverted freshwater to produce and then to transport the flowing heavy bitumen for refining would require massive new infrastructure and pipeline building from three different time zones in the Arctic, across British Columbia and through Alberta in a criss-cross pattern, into pipelines to such destinations as California, China, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Ontario, Illinois, Wisconsin and Texas. This entire project is now estimated at over $170 billion dollars. And after the whole process described so far, only then will all this dirty petroleum get burned and expel greenhouse gasses into the air causing further climate change.
Green groups ramp up attacks on oil sands
Claudia Cattaneo, Calgary Bureau Chief, Financial Post Published: Wednesday, November 19, 2008
CALGARY - Environmental organizations in Canada and the United States are stepping up their campaign to derail Alberta's oil sands and seeking funding from deep-pocketed endowments, including the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
Obama no threat to oil sands: Canadian Natural Resources
Carrie Tait, Financial Post
November 11, 2008
CALGARY -- Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. does not expect US president-elect Barack Obama to implement policies that would crush Alberta's oil sands industry, even though he made anti-oil promises on the campaign trail.
Réal Cusson, senior vice-president of marketing, made the assertion while explaining that it is cheaper for oil sands companies to ship their bitumen to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast for processing than it would be to build new upgraders in Alberta.
Energy consumption up across the board in 2007: StatsCan
Canadian Press
November 18, 2008
OTTAWA — A new study says Canada's demand for energy rose 5.5 per cent last year as consumption increased in the country's industrial, transportation, residential and commercial sectors.
Statistics Canada reports Canadians consumed 7,968 petajoules of energy in 2007, up from 7,551 in 2006.
The agency says one petajoule equals roughly the amount of energy required to operate the Montreal subway system for one year.
Sands shifting under Alberta oil sector
Claudia Cattaneo, Financial Post
November 18, 2008
CALGARY -- Environmental organizations in Canada and the United States are stepping up their campaign to derail Alberta's oil sands and seeking funding from deep-pocketed endowments including the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
Petro Canada is the "official energy supplier" to the Olympics. Perhaps that could shelve that disastrous project as well?
--M
Petrocan syndicate puts Fort Hills on ice
Consortium shelves oil sands project, citing global financial turmoil, lower oil prices and high financing costs
NORVAL SCOTT
November 18, 2008
CALGARY -- The Fort Hills oil sands project was going to turn Petro-Canada into a contender.
Its 140,000 barrels a day of new crude output would end years of underperformance. No longer would Petrocan's share price lag those of its peers.
TransCanada Pipelines is an official supplier to the 2010 Games.
This pipeline will provide enough gas to *almost triple* current already
insane tar sands production levels.
Lubicon lands will be destroyed so that the speed with which the
destruction of the tar sands advances through towards Fort Chip and
elsewhere can go up massively and much faster.
Little Buffalo still has no running water.
The lake has not been potable for a few decades now.
--M
TransCanada invades Lubicon Territory
... in order to "meet the public interest"?
Now this deserves a response.
November 16, 2008
The Assembly of Treaty Chiefs, representing the Chiefs from Treaties 6, 7 and 8 unanimously issued a formal resolution of support for the Lubicon Lake Indian Nation in their dispute with TransCanada Corporation.
Notably, Treaty 8 covers the lands surrounding Lubicon Territory through which the North Central Crossing Pipeline is also intended to pass -- meaning that Chiefs all along the pipeline route have declared their support for the Lubicon position.
World oil prices fall to $59
Lisa Wright
Business Reporter
Oil prices fell below $60 a barrel yesterday – and gasoline prices are tumbling too – but you may want to hold off on celebrating those sweet savings at the pumps.
Economists warn of the gloomier big picture: namely, that we're far from out of the woods when it comes to the global financial crisis.
And with oil and our coveted tar sands crucial to Canada's economy and prices continuing to fall, things are likely to get much worse before they get better, they say.
Air- and water-monitoring program promised for Fort Chipewyan
Last Updated: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 | CBC
Alberta's environment minister said Monday he will support the creation of a program to help people in the northern part of the province check if their food, air or water is contaminated.
Rob Renner made the promise after meeting with representatives of First Nations in Fort Chipewyan, Alta.
Harper Pledges Cooperation With Obama on Credit, Climate, Oil
By Greg Quinn and Theophilos Argitis
Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper called U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's victory this week ``historic'' and pledged to cooperate with him on issues ranging from the financial crisis to climate change.
