Climate Change / Emissions

The Guardian October 29, 2008

Biocapacity

World is facing a natural resources crisis worse than financial crunch

Two planets need by 2030 at this rate, warns report
Humans using 30% more resources than sustainable

Juliette Jowit

The world is heading for an "ecological credit crunch" far worse than
the current financial crisis because humans are over-using the natural
resources of the planet, an international study warns today.

The Living Planet report calculates that humans are using 30% more

Keep in mind: Nexen waste burning "co-generation" will create up to EIGHT TIMES the C02 and other greenhouse gas emissions footprint of a regular pump jack.

--M

Long Lake partners praised for efforts
Calgary Herald
October 26, 2008

All but 10 per cent of the water is to be recycled. The project will have ponds, but not giant tailings ponds like those at mining projects such as Syncrude Canada, Suncor Energy and Shell's Athabasca Oil Sands Project.

Georgia Straight October 23, 2008

Author Andrew Nikiforuk fears tar sands undermine democracy

By Charlie Smith

A Calgary author and journalist says most Canadians don’t understand that
we’re living in a “petrostate” that could undermine our democracy. Andrew
Nikiforuk, author of Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent
(Greystone Books, $20), told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview that
Canada needs a national debate on the topic. “I think the tar sands has
created a political emergency for the country,” he said.

Somebody local with a grudge targeting oilpatch?
Stephen Hume
Vancouver Sun
Monday, October 20, 2008

News of a second pipeline bombing in British Columbia's Peace River district splashed across headlines from New York to New Zealand.

Almost as quickly, anxious residents of Tomslake, about 700 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, speculated about al-Qaida, first nations militants and eco-extremists.

Trillions of dollars' worth of oil
High Stakes in Canada’s Vast Oil-Sands Fields
George Tombs, The Christian Science Monitor

The relentless search for oil has led explorers to the boreal forest of northeastern Alberta, among the jack pines and black spruce trees an hour's drive from the boom town of Fort McMurray. Kelly Hansen, operations manager at ConocoPhillips's $1 billion Surmont oil-sands plant, holds up the prize: a beaker of sticky black “synbit,” a 50-50 blend of bitumen (a viscous, tarlike petroleum) and synthetic oil.

OIL SANDS-PART 3: Biggest Customer Has Second Thoughts
By Chris Arsenault*

FT. MCMURRAY, Oct 20 (IPS) - As Canada's tar sands extraction expands full steam ahead, a perfect storm of internal and external opposition could derail some of the voracious growth at the world's largest energy project.

Together, skyrocketing construction costs, falling crude prices, increasingly vocal opposition from some native groups, and a little known section of the 2007 U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act all threaten growth projections in northern Alberta.

Nexen, Opti delay decision on next oil sands phase
Mon Oct 20, 2008 1:22pm EDT

CALGARY, Alberta, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Nexen Inc and Opti Canada Inc have postponed a decision to expand their new Long Lake, Alberta, oil sands project, citing the financial market crisis and uncertainty over costs to curb carbon emissions, a Nexen official said on Monday.

The partners in the C$6.1 billion ($5.1 billion) development, which is now in start-up mode, had expected to decide by the end of this year whether to begin work on twinning the project.

Positive step forward for pipeline
Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Published Monday, October 6, 2008

INUVIK - A major piece of the puzzle that is the Mackenzie Gas Project has fallen into place.

Access and benefits agreements have been reached between the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation and project proponents.
NNSL Photo/Graphic

Construction of the $16.2 billion Mackenzie Valley Pipeline is awaiting regulatory approval and the inking of access agreements similar to one signed by the Inuvialuit last week. - NNSL file photo

OIL SANDS-PART 1: Showdown at Ft. McMoney
By Chris Arsenault*

Environmentalists say mining tar sands oil creates 3 to 5 times more
greenhouse gas emissions than conventional oil extraction.

FT. MCMURRY, Canada, Oct 16 (IPS) - The sun rises in a bright, red
line over flat land, small lakes, boreal forest and peat bogs as our
small double engine plane bumps through early morning turbulence
between Edmonton and Ft. McMurray, Canada.

With more than 173 billion barrels of oil recoverable with current
technology and more than 100 billion dollars in committed capital

Russian Gas Executives Visit Palin’s Turf
By ANDREW E. KRAMER
Published: October 14, 2008

MOSCOW — A high-level delegation from the Russian energy company Gazprom met in Anchorage with state officials on Monday to talk about investing in Alaskan energy projects. The meeting came nearly three weeks after Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska talked in a television interview about her expertise in energy matters and took a hard line with Russia.