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.

Fort McMurray of the Middle East

SAUDI ARABIA'S NEW MIGHT: ENERGY
Fort McMurray of the Middle East
As Saudi Arabia tries to extend its oil reach, it faces the same hurdles as Alberta

DAVID EBNER

November 13, 2007

RABIGH, SAUDI ARABIA -- It's 35 C and humid on the shore of the Rea Sea north of Jeddah as a sprawling industrial facility and construction cranes emerge through the bright haze in the near distance.

For Saudi Arabia, a crude oil producer and refiner, the site is a first step into a future of doing more with the black gold that lies in vast quantities beneath the desert kingdom.

The Big Banks are Selling us Out on Climate Change

Whether we avert catastrophe with climate change may actually be decided
by Citibank and Bank of America.

by Tara Lohan

AlterNet (October 06 2007)

We're nearing the end of the window of opportunity we have to avert the
catastrophic effects predicted from the earth's changing climate. We're
either going to sink or swim. Our best hope at this time is to
drastically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, like carbon dioxide.

Global leaders are putting their heads together to come up with
solutions. Across the world, countries and municipalities are passing

Economic View: Running on empty: peak oil production is in sight...

Economic View: Running on empty: peak oil production is in sight, global supplies will dwindle - and the US, for one, is ill-prepared
China's rapid growth in consumption could suck up all the extra crude pumped next year, leaving other countries to get by with less
Hamish McRae
Published: 11 November 2007

Keystone & 2 other international pipeline stories

Analysis: Oil and Gas Pipeline Watch
Nov. 5, 2007 at 6:24 PM
By SIOBHAN DEVINE
UPI Correspondent
China finishes construction of tunnel for Sichuan-Shanghai gas pipeline

On Monday, workers in China’s Hubei province completed construction of a 1,405 meter tunnel connecting the banks of the Yangtze River in Yichang City for a new gas pipeline to supply China’s energy-short east.

Six steps to “getting” the global ecological crisis

Posted by Prof. Goose on November 4, 2007 - 9:05am
John Feeney, Ph.D. Trained as a psychologist

Some of us who examine and discuss environmental matters are constantly puzzled and frustrated by the seeming inability of elected officials, environmental organizations, and environmental and political writers to “get” the nature of our ecological plight. Could it be they’re simply unaware of the ecological principles which enable one to understand it?

Offsetting carbon while the boreal burns: Canadian Boreal Initiative (Pew) funds Suzuki to promote boreal forest carbon trading

PetrCizek:
Comment: Just as more scientific evidence continues to emerge that increased forest fires, all caused by climate change, are now causing the boreal forest to emit more carbon than it absorbs, the Big Greens (coincidentally funded by the Big Oil Pew foundation) continue to promote the idea of carbon trading from boreal forest "offsets". Yet, even the Canadian Forest Service has concluded that Canadian forests should not be included as a "sink" under Kyoto due to the extremely high risk of forest fires and insect outbreaks in the future:

The National Post Obscures Peak Oil with Red Scare Tactics

Oil and its peaks
Peter Foster, Financial Post
Published: Friday, November 02, 2007

About 25 years ago (my God, I'm old!) I was having dinner in New York with a stockbroker friend who was telling me that oil was headed for US$100 a barrel. I said that I didn't think it would ever see US$40 again in real terms. As of yesterday, I'm still right (and my friend is still rich, which proves that it's better to be a stockbroker than smart, although both is preferable).

Biofuel moratorium proposed to prevent starvation among the poor: UN Rapporteur

October 11, 2007 - 9:30 PM
UN rapporteur calls for biofuel moratorium

More and more corn is being used for biofuel at the expense of food, according to Jean Ziegler.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food is demanding an international five-year ban on producing biofuels to combat soaring food prices.

Switzerland's Jean Ziegler said the conversion of arable land for plants used for green fuel had led to an explosion of agricultural prices which was punishing poor countries forced to import their food at a greater cost.

Noam Chomsky: Starving the Poor with Biofuels (link to outside hosting)

Starving the Poor
Noam Chomsky
Khaleej Times, May 15, 2007

The New York Times has decided to threaten this website for content involving this article by Noam Chomsky. Rather than allow their threats to dissuade you the reader from being able to read the article above by Mr Chomsky, we have found a place where it is linked and we do not carry it. We apologize for letting a large corporate newspaper bully us but we cannot afford to fight them, and it is you the person seeking information who pay that cost.

here is a link to the same article, hosted elsewhere:

Alberta royalty change barely shakes energy markets

Alberta royalty change barely shakes energy markets
Petro-Canada will carry on with scheduled new oilsands projects
Friday, October 26, 2007
CBC News

Some energy stocks defied expectations by gaining value Friday, a day after Alberta introduced a controversial increase to the fees charged to oil and gas companies in the province.

Alberta royalties will rise to $1.4 billion more per year starting in 2009.
(CBC)