Economics

Muslims drawn to Grande Prairie
Population surge puts strain on local services
Tom McMillan, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Wednesday, January 02

Grande Prairie's Muslim population is in the midst of a rapid growth spurt, leaving the community scrambling to find facilities for education and prayer.

"A few years ago, there were eight or nine Muslim families here," said Edward Houssain, president of the Islamic Association of Grande Prairie and District. "Now, there are more than anyone knows."

B’y-gone ERA
A story of over there, from over here

PETER WORDEN
Special to The Telegram

Lonely and full of not-so-happy-go-lucky individualism, Alberta’s oil patch is a unique place. No doubt about that. No doubt, also, an important chapter in Newfoundland’s story is being written on the Prairies.
Tired jokes float around about Newfoundland’s second-largest city being Fort McMurray; that Newfoundland’s Come Home Year is Alberta’s “Go Home” Year; that Alberta is New Newfoundland.

Canada's forests aren't bailing us out, study says
Not getting better at absorbing gases. And longer growing seasons no help, after all
Thursday » January 3 » 2008
TOM SPEARS
CanWest News Service

Last year brought glum news that Canada's forests are only a so-so defence against global warming. Today, it gets a little worse: We thought our forests were getting better at soaking up greenhouse gases, but they're not.

What's new at the tar sands?

by Dave Cohen

My neighbor has a circular driveway ... he can't get out.
—Steven Wright

January 2, 2008
Oil Hits $100 a Barrel for the First Time
By JAD MOUAWAD

Oil prices reached the symbolic level of $100 a barrel for the first
time on Wednesday, a long-awaited milestone in an era of rapidly
escalating energy demand.

Crude oil futures for February delivery hit $100 on the New York
Mercantile Exchange shortly after noon New York time, before falling
back slightly. Oil prices, which had fallen to a low of $50 a barrel
at the beginning of 2007, have quadrupled since 2003.

Futures settled at $99.62, up $3.64 on the day.

Pipeline to B.C. back on track
Asian demand for Alberta crude makes 1,300-km route to B.C. port feasible, Enbridge president says
Gordon Jaremko, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Saturday, December 29 2007

Courses are being charted for supertankers to fetch Alberta oil for Asia from a new British Columbia terminal planned for Kitimat.

Engineers are designing tunnels to put a new pipeline beneath the mountains between Edmonton and the Pacific Ocean without scarring alpine scenery or wildlife habitat.

Oilpatch braces for new arrivals
Dec 04, 2007 09:07 AM // Dean Bennett
THE CANADIAN PRESS

FORT McMURRAY, Alta. – Fifty-seven year old Gerald Morrison has only 18 months to go before he can "get out of Dodge" and retire to Port Hawkesbury, N.S.

But until then, the Syncrude refinery technician has to get a roomie to meet the $2,950 monthly rent on a three-bedroom apartment north of the downtown core, which comes complete with leaks in the ceiling, frosted-over panes and window sills spongy with rot.

A very significant statement, buried within the article below, produced for a North Dakota audience, in that is shows basically why EVERY SINGLE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT is a crock of doo-doo. Cumulative Impacts are measured, or there is nothing to look at within a report. It's really quite simple-- if the report does not factor in all the ways in which the environment is impacted by development, then you don't have an impact of development to the environment report. Everything else then, is a smoke and mirrors game.

Top 10 Global Warming Stories of 2007

What events or actions had the most positive or negative impact on the likelihood that the nation and the world will act in time to avoid catastrophic warming? Here are my picks:

Peak Oil And Dunbar's Number
By Peter Goodchild
29 December, 2007 // Countercurrents.org