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.
Oil sands seen as 'threat No. 1,' as U.S. may target dirtier fuels
SHAWN MCCARTHY
GLOBAL ENERGY REPORTER
October 30, 2007
Canadian oil sands producers should brace for further bad news - this time from south of the border, as the U.S. government moves toward a national climate change policy that could target dirtier fossil fuels such as the oil sands bitumen, a former U.S. energy official said yesterday.
Oil and its peaks
Peter Foster, Financial Post
Published: Friday, November 02, 2007
About 25 years ago (my God, I'm old!) I was having dinner in New York with a stockbroker friend who was telling me that oil was headed for US$100 a barrel. I said that I didn't think it would ever see US$40 again in real terms. As of yesterday, I'm still right (and my friend is still rich, which proves that it's better to be a stockbroker than smart, although both is preferable).
Beyond the Age of Petroleum
by MICHAEL T. KLARE
The Nation [from the November 12, 2007 issue]
INAC “no” to UR-Energy uranium drilling in the Thelon
By LEA STORRY, SRJ Editor 31.OCT.07
The beauty of the NWT’s Upper Thelon is safe...for now. Chuck Strahl, the minister of Indian and northern affairs Canada (INAC), formally accepted the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board (Review Board) recommendation that exploration work proposed by UR-Energy be rejected without an environmental impact review.
Keystone pipeline demand doubles cost
Wed, October 31, 2007
By FREE PRESS NEWS SERVICES
CALGARY -- TransCanada Corp. has more than doubled the estimated cost of its Keystone crude oil pipeline to US$5.2 billion to meet rising demand for the Canada-U.S. project, the company said yesterday while reporting higher third-quarter earnings.
Quote:
“I think we look forward a little more optimistically because I don’t think anyone would be more aware than us of the challenges of sustaining gas production in Alberta,” he said.
It is arrogant when I see this, and mentally put it along side what MGP proponents in their office in Inuvik explained about the gas going to fuel the tar sands: "It is not up to our control as producers to determine who buys it on a free market".
October 11, 2007 - 9:30 PM
UN rapporteur calls for biofuel moratorium
More and more corn is being used for biofuel at the expense of food, according to Jean Ziegler.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food is demanding an international five-year ban on producing biofuels to combat soaring food prices.
Switzerland's Jean Ziegler said the conversion of arable land for plants used for green fuel had led to an explosion of agricultural prices which was punishing poor countries forced to import their food at a greater cost.
Mud, sweat and tears
The vast tar sands of Alberta in Canada hold oil reserves six times the size of Saudi Arabia's. But this 'black gold' is proving a mixed blessing for the frontier town of Fort McMurray, fuelling both prosperity and misery. As the social and environmental toll mounts, Aida Edemariam reports on the dark side of a boom town.
Aida Edemariam
The Guardian// UK
Tuesday October 30 2007
October 30, 2007
Drugs
by Katie Beaton
(click on the image)
October 30, 2007
Environmentalism in Alberta?
Activists say communities are beginning to stand up to tar sands
by Samantha Power
The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca
"Stop the tar sands man" and other demonstrators appeared outside a stampede breakfast hosted by Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach. Activists say Albertans are increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of oil development.
