Economics drive tar sands operations. Record highs in oil prices, though still fluctuating, will make tar sand oil ‘economical’ (read: profitable) well into the future. Government subsidies to this environmentally disastrous process remain in place from a time when the federal government was sponsoring research into the possibility of recovering this oil. Stock prices of tar sands developers grow the more conventional oil is scarce.
Georgia Straight April 3, 2008
The coming food catastrophe
By Gwynne Dyer
This is the new face of hunger, said Josette Sheeran, executive
director of the UNs World Food Programme, launching an appeal for an
extra $500 million so it could continue supplying food aid to 73 million
hungry people this year. People are simply being priced out of food
marketsWe have never before had a situation where aggressive rises in
food prices keep pricing our operations out of our reach.
The Peak Oil Crisis: Load shedding
by Tom Whipple
Fall Church News-Press (March 27 2008)
Largely unnoticed in America are the increasingly frequent electricity
shortages developing around the world.
Many of these are caused by shifting weather patterns that are leaving
hydro-electric dams with insufficient water to produce at full capacity.
While some aspects of global climate change are temporary, many, such as
the melting of glaciers, seem destined to last for decades, or perhaps
centuries, thereby depriving the world of some of the best sources of
Lubicon fight proposed TransCanada pipeline
© Indian Country Today April 04, 2008. All Rights Reserved
April 04, 2008
by: Kate Harries
TORONTO - The Lubicon Lake Indian Nation in northern Alberta is
gearing up to fight a proposed jumbo pipeline that would carry natural
gas from the Mackenzie Valley in the west to the oil sands
developments to the east.
The $983 million proposal follows a history of industrial development
across the unceded Lubicon territory that has left the 500-member Cree
nation impoverished, poisoned and disregarded by Canada and Alberta -
Oil peak theorist warns of chaos, war
SHAWN McCARTHY
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
WASHINGTON — Matt Simmons sounds the alarm like the Cassandra of the
oil industry, warning that crude production has peaked and that
looming energy shortages could derail global growth and even spark
armed conflict.
As a prominent “peak oil” theorist, the veteran oil industry financier
paints a grim picture of a world facing resource scarcity. Still, it
doesn't take a “peak-ist” to conclude that the global oil producers
Whale risks rise in Robson Bight
Times Colonist
Monday, April 07, 2008
Governments' poor performance in dealing with a truck full of diesel fuel on the bottom of Robson Bight raises concerns about proposals for more tanker traffic and offshore oil and gas development.
The federal and provincial governments have expressed support for both, although the Harper government has not lifted the offshore drilling moratorium in place since the early 1970s. Both governments promise tough environmental controls as part of any change.
Iraq War
Five years of war in Iraq have hit home in Edmonton
DAVID BERRY / david@vueweekly.com
The further we get away from the actual date, the better Canada’s decision to not get involved with the US invasion of Iraq looks. Five years after the US launched its ill-conceived assault on the Middle Eastern nation, there aren’t many—except perhaps those in the highest offices of the American government—who consider the situation anything but a quagmire.
Clip from the article below:
He said Alberta, because of its ongoing labour woes, has become "ground zero" for the Temporary Foreign Worker program, which has expanded into "a huge social and economic experiment that's in the process of going horribly wrong."
**
Oil-shale 'rush' is sparking concern
By Stephen Speckman
Deseret Morning News
Published: Saturday, March 22, 2008
With oil prices surpassing $100 per barrel, talk of extracting the black gold wherever it can be found in Utah and elsewhere is raising red flags for environmental groups.
The most recent complaint came this week from 26 conservation groups that accuse the Bush administration of rushing to develop oil shale and tar sands and endangering communities and 2 million acres of wild lands in three states, including Utah.
Peak Oil May Worsen the Climate Crisis
April 02, 2008 10:45 AM ET | Marianne Lavelle
It's hard to know whether we should be more worried that consuming oil is killing the planet or that there's way too little of this killer oil left.
Taking a bet on oil sands
WITH crude oil hitting a record price of US$108 per barrel recently, the search for oil and gas has been more intense than ever due to its high profit margin.
In recent years, investing in the extraction of oil from sand or oil sands is gaining popularity because of the strong demand and high prices of oil.
