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.
Rise in tanker traffic sparks fear of spills
Concern about a crude spill has one councillor trying to slow the increase of exports from Burnaby terminal
DON WHITELEY
Special to The Globe and Mail
November 27, 2007
VANCOUVER -- The potential for large increases in exports of crude oil through the Port of Vancouver has local politicians concerned about the port's growing vulnerability to oil spills.
Colorado, unlike much of the US, cannot convince its commerce department and those involved in industry that it is alright to ignore Alberta's hydrocarbon devastation programs. Many have shown how the American media in publications such as the Washington Post or New York Times can be quite honest about the death of the land and air north of Fort McMurray and elsewhere.
US foundations give millions to Canadian environmental groups
By Dru Oja Jay, the Dominion
Since major foundations in the US began funding environmental groups in the late 1980s, many grassroots environmental activists have sounded the alarm about the rise of the "Big Greens." Featuring six-figure salaries and foundation funding, critics say the large environmental NGOs coopt grassroots movements and excercise control over what issues are brought up.
November 23, 2007
What in Tar Nation?
Life among the tar sands
by Maya Rolbin-Ghanie
The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca
A plume of smoke from a Syncrude processing plant, viewed from Fort Mackay. Photo: Dru Oja Jay
We leave Fort McMurray and hitch a ride to Fort MacKay, a Native community 40kms north, where we stay for three days.
Intro Rant:
It is very important we think about this correctly: The North-Central Corridor is the "alternative" to nuclear power. Both of these proposals are entirely driven by the energy input needs of cooking, digging, flipping and poisoning the earth in the Athabasca region, north of Fort McMurray. Both would devastate yet further many indigenous territories in the north, including the "Tear Drop" traditional territory of the Lubicon Cree Nation. Both would not only facilitate but vastly expand the consumption of energy for the increased output of the tar pits.
NEWS RELEASE 21/11/07
CARC’s Final Argument: Get More Information or Reject Pipeline Project
An open letter to James Richardson & Sons and the Richardson Foundation regarding investment in the Alberta Oil Sands and the damage being done to environment and health in the region and globally,
To the Richardson Family business and Foundation:
Upgrader fire ignites safety concerns
Last Updated: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 | 11:44 AM MT
CBC News
A third sour gas leak in two years at a Shell refinery northeast of Edmonton has some residents wondering how safe it is to live in the area known as Upgrader Alley.
A giant fireball erupted above Shell's Scotford upgrader near Fort Saskatchewan on Monday afternoon, sparked by a leak of the highly toxic and flammable gas. About 3,000 workers were sent home, but no one was injured in the incident.
Worker Rod Whitford said it wasn't a big scare.
Chávez and Ahmadineyad agree that the dollar empire is collapsing
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2007/noviembre/mar20/47dolar.html
TEHRAN, November 19.— Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez stated today
in Teheran that “the dollar empire is collapsing,” according to ANSA.
“Soon we won’t be talking about dollars anymore because the value of
the dollar is in free fall and the dollar empire is collapsing,”
Chávez said to a group of journalists.
The Bolivarian leader visited Tehran, coming from Riyadh where he had
Changing your light bulbs may not be enough to save a single polar bear,
but there are things we can do collectively - and easily - that will
really make a measurable difference in the battle against global
warming. Mark Lynas has a three-part plan.
by Mark Lynas
New Statesman (November 08 2007)
We have about 100 months left. If global greenhouse gas emissions have
not begun to decline by the end of 2015, then our chances of restraining
climate change to within the two degrees "safety line" - the level of
