Oil Sands Truth: Shut Down the Tar Sands

International oil & gas

Stock markets and global oil interests (including war) would be included here, as would attempts to get oil out of high risk, low return areas from oil shale in Colorado, to natural gas and heavy oil in the high eastern Arctic. The tar sands are part of this trend and should be seen as such. What happens with the tar sands will have a tremendous impact on what kind of choices are made elsewhere, environmentally and socially.

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International Oil & Gas is a category for stories relating to tar sand production or climate change but not in any of the projects already listed geographically. This includes other regions of the planet with horrible environmental and high energy costs that, like the tar sands, are only a "choice" because of high prices and the global depletion of easily recoverable oil reserves. Such issues as the threat of war on Iran, "instability" in Iraq and Venezuela or disasters like Katrina will all drive up oil prices, which in turn doubly encourages tar sand production-- by price demand and energy demand. Stock markets and global oil interests (including war) would be included here, as would attempts to get oil out of high risk, low return areas from oil shale in Colorado, to natural gas and heavy oil in the high eastern Arctic. The tar sands are part of this trend and should be seen as such. What happens with the tar sands will have a tremendous impact on what kind of choices are made elsewhere, environmentally and socially.

The Great Coal Rush and Why It Will Fail

The Great Coal Rush and Why It Will Fail
by Richard Heinberg
MuseLetter #190 (February 2008)

This MuseLetter, and several more during the next few months, will be
chapters for a forthcoming book on coal, to be published by Post Carbon
Press. This month's issue is the book's Introduction.

The world appears poised for a headlong sprint toward greater dependence
on coal. This book's purpose is to examine one crucial question that
will shape this next great coal rush: How much is left?

The answer from conventional wisdom is, Lots. Coal appears to be the

Arctic ‘Doomsday Vault’ Filled With World’s Seeds Comes to Life

Arctic ‘Doomsday Vault’ Filled With World’s Seeds Comes to Life
by Pierre-Henry Deshayes in Longyearbyen, Norway

AN Arctic “doomsday vault” filled with samples of the world’s most important seeds will be inaugurated in Norway today.

0224 03The vault aims to provide humankind with a Noah’s Ark of food in the event of a global catastrophe.

Canada-U.S. pact allows cross-border military activity

Clip:

"Are we going to see [U.S.] troops on our soil for minor potential threats
to a pipeline or a road?" he asked.

Good question, but what's our collective answer?
--M

Vancouver Sun February 23, 2008

Canada-U.S. pact allows cross-border military activity

Deal allows either country to send troops across the other's border to deal
with an emergency

David Pugliese

Canada and the U.S. have signed an agreement that paves the way for the
militaries from either nation to send troops across each other's borders

Oil Price Closed Above $100 a Barrel; World Leaders Ignore this Signal of Impending Shortages

Press release, The Oil Drum

The price for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil closed above $100 for the first time on February 19, 2008. "Rising oil prices have been giving a clear signal of pending shortages for over five years now," according to TheOilDrum.com. By ignoring this signal, world leaders are steering the world toward an energy disaster characterized by shortages, high energy prices, inflation, civil unrest and famine.

Utah: Meetings set in 3 cities on oil shale, tar sands

Meetings set in 3 cities on oil shale, tar sands
Feb. 16, 2008 12:09 a.m. MST

Public meetings have been scheduled in three Utah cities to discuss development of the state's oil shale and tar sands resources. The shale and sands resources fall within the jurisdictions of the Moab, Monticello, Price, Richfield and Vernal BLM field offices.

The Bureau of Land Management has set up the following informal meetings:

Big oil's enemy within

Big oil's enemy within
The ultimate threat to big oil comes not from green campaigners - but its own shareholders
February 20, 2008 12:15 AM

Tony Hayward
New BP boss Tony Hayward has overseen a reversal of policy towards tar sands.

Business leaders are now pleading with governments for regulation. When did that last happen? Executives usually hate anything that interferes with their freedom of movement. But climate change appears to have changed all that.

Saying Goodbye To The Oil Age

Saying Goodbye To The Oil Age
by Peter Goodchild
Countercurrents.org (January 29 2008)

The first practical oil drill was developed in Titusville, Pennsylvania,
in 1859, by Edwin L Drake. Now, only a short while later, the planet
Earth is running out of oil, without which almost nothing in modern
civilization can function. A number of scientists and engineers have
pointed out that the world's oil production will peak early in the
twenty-first century; it has probably already done so. At the beginning
of the century, the human race was using about thirty billion barrels of

Canada in "The Prize"

With the approach of the 150th anniversary of Canadian petroleum this year (1858-2008), I was reminded of something that has been on my mind for some time. It has to do with Daniel Yergin's best selling book "The Prize". This book is considered to be the most authoritative book on petroleum history. Even though I found this book to be very informative and interesting, I was upset by the fact that so little was written in it regarding Canada's oil.

Mankind can't afford more oil drilling-ex-BP exec

Mankind can't afford more oil drilling-ex-BP exec
By Gerard Wynn

LONDON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Known oil, gas and coal reserves may already contain a quarter more carbon than mankind can emit and still avoid dangerous climate change, putting the value of new oil exploration in doubt, said a former oil major executive.
The oil industry may be wasting $50 billion annually searching for new fields, said Jan-Peter Onstwedder, formerly BP's most senior risk manager. He left BP in December.

Production from unconventional source expected to gain supremacy

Oilsands future looks rosy
Production from unconventional source expected to gain supremacy
John Morrissy, Canwest News Service
Published: 1:31 am

OTTAWA - Canada's oilsands are taking over where conventional oil production left off, with profits in the oil-extraction industry rising 18 per cent to a record $23 billion in 2008 on rapidly rising output from the huge oil reserves, according to the Conference Board of Canada.