Animals

Such an article as the one below is a very good thing to see, in a certain sense. It means, of course, that stage one & two of social action against the tar sands have now been passed: stage one is they ignore you, and two is they ridicule you. Three, of course-- so goes the old saying, anyhow-- is that we are violently opposed.

*Ottawa, Canada, February 19, 2009 –* United States President Barack Obama
is meeting today with Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada for his first
foreign visit as a President. The main discussion will center on trade
between the two nations as well as topics of environment, climate and energy
security in North America. Obama's concerns about implementing an agenda for
a clean and green energy economy highlights' Canada's oil sands, a vast
potential oil source that comes at a big cost to the environment and the

MacKenzie Pipeline one step closer

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Backers of a proposed natural gas pipeline down the Mackenzie Valley in the Northwest Territories have received some good news.

Imperial Oil has worked out a tentative deal on land access with the one remaining aboriginal stake holder not yet on board. The deal still has to be ratified by Dehcho First Nation communities, which cover about 40 per cent of the pipeline's route, in the southwest corner of the terriroties.

The Role of the Environmentalist
A Bias for Life
Weekend Edition
August 30 / 31, 2008
By JOSH SCHLOSSBERG

After decades of speaking on Nature's behalf, the environmental movement continues to gain power and influence in the U.S. With media, government and even big business preaching the green gospel all of a sudden, modern day enviros might finally have an opportunity to start reversing the course of Earth-death, rather than just "slowing down the rate at which things have been getting worse."

Tanker Threat to B.C. Coast and Waterways
Written by Ingmar Lee
Thursday,
12 February 2009

A letter from Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline (Feb. 7) suggests that supertankers carrying crude oil through the Douglas Channel would be business as usual.

To the editor of the Victoria Times-Colonist
Re: "Tankers won't be travelling Inside Passage route," letter,
Feb. 7.

NDP MP Don Davies drafts bill to ban oil tankers off B.C. coast

By Stephen Hui

*Don Davies*, the NDP MP for Vancouver Kingsway, has drafted legislation to
enshrine in law the federal moratorium that prohibits oil tankers from
plying British Columbia's coastal waters.

"Oil tankers in our coastal waters pose a grave threat to our environment
and sensitive ecosystems," Davies said in a statement e-mailed today
(February 5) to the *Straight*. "The risk of oil spills and damage to our
marine mammals is unacceptable."

In this week's *Straight* cover
story

Syncrude faces charges over death of ducks
By Scott Haggett
Feb 9, 2009.

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - The province of Alberta and the Canadian laid charges against the Syncrude Canada Ltd joint venture after 500 ducks died after landing on a tailings pond at its oil sands operation in April.

The province alleges Syncrude, the world's biggest oil sands producer, failed to have appropriate deterrents in place to keep the ducks from landing on the toxic waste-water pond.

Alberta serious about oil sands clean up: minister
Strict New Rules

By Darcy Henton and Dan Healing, Canwest News
February 4, 2009

Alberta's energy minister says strict new rules governing oil sands tailings ponds will show the world that Alberta is serious about cleaning up the province's oil sands developments.

"I think the market community internationally [is] going to see that the province of Alberta and this government are very serious about how we move forward with ... development that's environmentally friendly," said Mel Knight.

Fort Chip cancer rates higher than expected: report
February 6, 2009
CBC News

The number of cancer cases in Fort Chipewyan, Alta., is higher than expected, says a report from Alberta Health Services released Friday.

Fifty-one cancers in 47 people were found in Fort Chipewyan between 1995 and 2006, a dozen more than the 39 cancers that were expected, and the incidences of some cancers warrant more followup, the report said.

Tar sands-related cancer study to be released today
edmontonjournal.com
February 6, 2009

EDMONTON - A study of the incidence of cancer in the northern Alberta community of Fort Chipewyan is to be released Friday at noon.

Dr. Tony Fields of Alberta Health Services is to discuss the findings at Edmonton's Cross Cancer Institute.

Fort Chipewyan is downstream from oilsands development, which some in the area have blamed for higher than normal rates of rare cancer. The study was meant to determine whether that was the case.