Animal habitats and health are affected by tar sands production, whether from loss of habitat to any of the infrastructure developments across the continent, or through changes in the atmosphere such as melting polar ice caps in the Arctic brought on by out of control C02 emissions. Poisoning waterways, the food supply and the air in the immediate and not-so immediate surroundings has led to drops and even disappearances of species near pipelines, platforms and other infrastructure of the tarsands.
Could tar sands be behind high rates of cancer in Fort Chipewyan?
By Stephanie Dearing.
Published June 29, 2009
Is the extraction of oil from Alberta's tar sands responsible for the disproportionate increase in cancers in a down-stream community?
A northern Alberta First Nations community, sited down river from the tar sands, is suffering from a higher-than-normal incidence of cancer. Dr. John O'Connor was instrumental in drawing attention to the cancer rate. So why is he seen as a bad guy?
Canada's 'toxic secret' soon to be made public
Last Updated: Thursday, June 18, 2009 |
CBC News
Environmental groups have long called the tailings lakes in the Alberta oilsands Canada's toxic secret, but companies operating there will soon be required to disclose exactly what pollutants are there.
In April, a federal court ordered Ottawa to make the mining industry release a complete inventory of what material they release into the environment. Now companies in the oilsands will also have to comply, CBC News has learned.
Pipeline proposal raises vexing questions
Written by Jeannette Paterson
Prince George
Thursday, 18 June 2009
Wanting to get a better sense of how or if the Enbridge pipeline would benefit the majority of British Columbians, I looked back at the Thomas Berger Inquiry held in the 1970s regarding the Mackenzie Delta natural gas pipeline.
It was, of course, recommended that a 10-year moratorium be put in place until the aboriginal people living in the area had completed their land claims and then, from a position of ownership and power, the project could be revisited.
he Politics of Bait and Switch
by Jeffrey St Clair and Joshua Frank
CounterPunch (May 21 2009)
After little more than 100 days in office, the Democrats, under the leadership of Barack Obama, have unleashed a slew of anti-environmental policies that would have enraged any reasonable conservationist during the Bush years.
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
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.
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."
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
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.
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
