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.
Ignatieff promises B.C. oil-tanker-traffic moratorium
By SCOTT SIMPSON, Vancouver Sun
June 21, 2010
Federal Liberals would formalize a moratorium on crude oil tanker traffic on British Columbia's north coast waters, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff announced on Monday.
Scientist admits defaming oilsands researchers
June 21, 2010
CBC News
A scientist who works for the Alberta government has apologized to two scientists for calling their research "a lie."
Dr. Preston McEachern, an environmental effects biologist who works for the government of Alberta, issued a letter of apology and retraction to Kevin Timoney, a researcher with Treeline Ecological Research, and Peter Lee, executive director with Global Forest Watch Canada.
Gulf oil spill: A hole in the world
Naomi Klein, June 19, 2010
The Deepwater Horizon disaster is not just an industrial accident – it is a violent wound inflicted on the Earth itself. In this special report from the Gulf coast, a leading author and activist shows how it lays bare the hubris at the heart of capitalism
Global Forces Making Vancouver a Major Oil Port
China craves oil sands fuel. Ottawa wants to diversify its US market. So huge amounts of crude will have to pass through a risky Second Narrows.
By Mitchell Anderson,
17 Jun 2010,
TheTyee.ca
Burrard Inlet and Second Narrows bridge
Second Narrows Bridge in Burrard Inlet received highest hazard rating by Coast Guard.
What Happened on the BP Oil Rig?
The facts, now out, are detailed here. The moral reckoning has yet to begin.
By Rex Weyler, TheTyee.ca
June 18 2010
Red flags were ignored.
After the Deepwater well blew out, the first announcement from British Petroleum (BP) assured the public that "we have the best engineers in the world." Then they announced that the damaged well flowed at a rate of "one thousand barrels per day" (b/d).
Estimates now range between 50 and 150 b/d.
How do the "best engineers in the world" get this wrong by two orders of magnitude?
BP Gulf Oil Spill No Barrier to $3.8 Billion Refinery Expansion
June 02, 2010
More From Businessweek
By Joe Carroll
June 2 (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc’s $3.8 billion expansion of the largest refinery in the U.S. Midwest won’t be delayed by criminal and regulatory probes into the company’s role in the largest oil spill in the country’s history.
Sierra Club Chooses Corporate Sponsorship Over Grassroots Activists
June 16, 2010
There is no shortage of worthy targets in the gulf cleanup effort that the
Sierra Club could be aiming for right now: the Center for Biological
Diversity exposed
Ken Salazar for granting new drilling permits after
he said there was a moratorium. Food & Water Watch filed
Cuba gets ready for BP oil spill
Cuba is making preparations to protect its coast as the BP oil spill continues spreading through the Gulf of Mexico, Cuban officials said today.
News wires 15 June 2010
They offered few specifics about the preparations, but said Venezuela, Cuba's oil-rich ally, has sent a team of spill-fighting experts to help the communist-run island.
Millions of gallons of oil have gushed into the gulf in the 57-day-old spill and fouled 120 miles (190 kilometres) of US coastline.
Oil Shale or Shale Oil?
A Case of Mistaken Identity
By Keith Kohl
Thursday, June 17th, 2010
There are few things in life that anger me more than one of my readers being swindled.
And you should be just as irritated, because it's your hard earned money that's at stake.
Now, you know that shale oil isn't new to us. We've been covering the development of shale deposits for years. And my readers and I know how well that's turned out investors.
When the shale rush began, it was impossible to pick a losing play. Of course, things are much different today. But I digress...
