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.
Big-league players step up for oil sands
U.S. lobbying
By Claudia Cattaneo, Financial Post
March 11, 2009
As Alberta's oil sands industry struggles with depressed oil prices and opposition from the environmental movement, a new front is emerging to support it -- in Washington.
Doc’s claims ‘hurtful’: O’Connor
CAROL CHRISTIAN
Fort McMurray Today staff
After three years of drawing attention to elevated cancer rates in Fort Chipewyan, Dr. John O'Connor now finds himself at a loss to explain “hurtful” comments from a Health Canada medical officer of health that he misreported the cancers.
Enbridge analyzed
By Rebecca Billard - Burns Lake Lakes District News
April 07, 2009 11:00 PM
Alberta government on hot seat after Syncrude duck death toll hits 1,606
By Kelly Cryderman, Calgary Herald
April 1, 2009
Oilsands giant Syncrude revealed Tuesday that 1,600 waterfowl drowned in a tailings pond near Fort McMurray last April -- more than three times the original estimate of dead birds.
Environmental critics such as the Sierra Club of Canada, Greenpeace and Ecojustice immediately jumped on the fact the real figure has been hidden from the public for months.
Wed, April 1, 2009
Fowl fatal figure flap
Syncrude reveals duck tragedy triple initial toll - which it and province knew in July
By KERRY DIOTTE, LEGISLATURE BUREAU CHIEF
Province knew in July the real toll at the tailings pond.
Syncrude and the Alberta government knew nine months ago that three times as many ducks died in an oilsands tailings pond than initially reported - but officials didn't make the higher death toll public until yesterday.
City councillor wants tar sands halted
Tim Edwards
Northern News Services
Published Friday, March 27, 2009
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - City council appears set to vote in favour of a motion calling on Alberta's government to halt new tar sands development south of the NWT border.
City council will vote on a motion next month which calls on the Alberta government to halt tar sands development until a number of environmental measures have been met.
Tar Sand Demands:
1. Public contingency plans for catastrophic breaches of oil sands tailing ponds.
From the Athabasca to the Saint Lawrence and the Great Lakes:
Events in Montréal, Toronto, Ann Arbor and Chicago.
Montreal Event:
Tar Sands: Stopping the flow of destruction
from the ATHABASCA to the SAINT LAWRENCE
WHEN: Friday March 20, 7pm
WHERE: Room 26, Stephen Leacock Bldg (855 Sherbrooke Ouest)
Toronto Event:
WHEN: Saturday, March 21, 7pm
WHERE: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE)
252 Bloor St. West, Room 5-250
Ann Arbor Event:
Tuesday, March 24. TBA
Chicago Event:
WHEN: Wednesday, March 25. 6:45pm.
WHERE: The Lincoln Park Library Auditorium.
Is this the risk we should take?
March 18, 2009
Smithers Interior News
On March 24, 1989 the Exxon Valdez began spilling what amounted to approximately 40 million litres of crude oil into Prince William Sound. While the incident ranks well down on the list of the world’s largest oil spills by volume, it is considered one of the most devastating.
As we commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the Exxon Valdez, it’s worth looking at the trauma that 40 million litres of misplaced oil can cause, and comparing it to what is being asked of Northern communities today.
Former Fort Chip doctor calls for oilsands slowdown
Last Updated: Monday, March 9, 2009
CBC News
Dr. John O'Connor, shown here in Edmonton Sunday, is featured in Downstream, a documentary by American filmmaker Leslie Iwerks. Dr. John O'Connor, shown here in Edmonton Sunday, is featured in Downstream, a documentary by American filmmaker Leslie Iwerks. (CBC)
The doctor who first raised concerns about cancer rates in Fort Chipewyan, Alta., three years ago — and became the target of a professional complaint — said on Sunday he'd do it all again.
Budget triples for Mackenzie Valley review panel
SHAWN MCCARTHY AND NATHAN VANDERKLIPPE
March 16, 2009
OTTAWA and CALGARY -- The budget for the panel reviewing the proposed $16-billion Mackenzie Valley Pipeline has nearly tripled amid delays that have frustrated industry and government, an internal federal report says.
The report from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency says the Joint Review Panel's costs have risen to $18-million, from the original budget of $6.8-million when it was established in the summer of 2004.
