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.
Pipeline made an impact
December 7, 2009
By Greg Wees
WORLD-HERALD NEWS SERVICE
NORFOLK, Neb. — Crews who spent the summer here building part of one of the longest crude oil pipelines ever constructed have pulled up stakes.
It won’t be long before oil starts filling the 2,148-mile Keystone Pipeline.
“We expect to start to fill the line with oil this year. The fill process will take several months to complete,” said Jeff Rauh, a spokesman for pipeline owner TransCanada.
Toxic chemical levels higher in water downstream of Alberta oilsands plants
[This photo shows how at least one company is bulldozing right to the Athabasca River's edge.
Photograph by: Erin Kelly, University of Alberta , edmontonjournal.com]
By Hanneke Brooymans, edmontonjournal.com
December 7, 2009
EDMONTON — Levels of toxic chemicals in the Athabasca watershed are up to 50 times higher downstream of oilsands development, a new University of Alberta study has found.
'Upsetting the Offset: The Political Economy of Carbon Markets'
Steffen Böhm and Siddhartha Dabhi (eds)
The book can be downloaded for free at http://mayflybooks.org/?page_id=194
The book will be launched in Colchester, UK, and Lund, Sweden (near Copenhagen); at both events some free copies of the book will be available:
The Old Library at Colchester Town Hall, West Stockwell Street, Colchester, UK Wednesday 9 December 4-6pm The event is free and open to all http://mayflybooks.org/?p=313
Leaders from the Global South protest against WWF International in Geneva
First action of the Social and Climate Justice Caravan
In front of the international head quarters of WWF (World Wildlife Fund) in
Gland-Geneva, participants of the Social and Climate Justice Caravan made
their first protest action. Delegates from farming organisations, indigenous
and fisher folk from the South denounced the greenwashing carried out by WWF
NAFTA paves U. S. route to energy from north
August 17, 2008
The Buffalo News, Jerry Zremski
Beneath the forests of Alberta, 2,300 miles miles northwest of Buffalo, you’ll find the latest black gold: a mix of sand and oil being mined as a new kind of gusher.
And Alberta’s Athabasca Oil Sands are just part of a petroleum boom that has made Canada the world’s top supplier of oil to the United States.
The boom could make its way to Buffalo through two proposed pipelines that would carry Canadian oil through Western New York to refineries in the Philadelphia area.
Suncor planning to grow oilsands business
By MARKUS ERMISCH, SUN MEDIA
Last Updated: 3rd December 2009
Investors need not fear Suncor Energy is moving away from being an oilsands-dominated company after merging with Petro-Canada, an executive told an energy conference in Miami yesterday.
Prior to its merger with Petro-Canada, Suncor's business consisted of 80% oilsands and 20% of what John Rogers called "other stuff," such as natural gas and downstream operations.
Lars Christian Bacher: Statoil's oil sands pragmatist
Statoil chief discusses priorities in his first Canadian interview
Nathan Vanderklippe
CALGARY —
Globe and Mail
Saturday, Dec. 05, 2009
When Statoil ASA brought Lars Christian Bacher to Calgary, the company named him president of its Canadian operations and gave him a mandate to get bitumen out of the oil sands - and, when that's done, think about getting more of the land around Fort McMurray into the portfolio.
Pipeline review draws criticism
Environmentalists say scope of hearings is too narrow
By Judith Lavoie, Times Colonist
December 5, 2009
Federal terms of reference for assessing the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline brought instant condemnation from environmental groups yesterday.
The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and the National Energy Board announced they will hold open forums on the pipeline, which would run from the Alberta oilsands to a port at Kitimat.
Climate talks target Alberta's oilsands
By Kelly Cryderman, Calgary Herald
December 6, 2009
As the world works toward the most important climate change agreement since Kyoto in 1997, the Canadian delegation will walk into the Copenhagen conference with a big, black bull's-eye on its back.
The sore spot--the increasing greenhouse gas emissions from Alberta's oilsands--will be as inescapable as Danish pastries when 192 countries gather in Copenhagen for 12 days beginning Monday.
Suncor to sell Shell gas in Colorado
April 09, 2009 - DENVER -- Suncor Energy (U.S.A.) Inc. reached a marketing agreement with Shell Oil Products U.S., allowing Suncor to sell Shell-branded gasoline in Colorado, the Denver Business Journal reported.
Suncor Energy (U.S.A.)—the Denver-based U.S. unit of Calgary, Alberta-based Suncor Energy Inc., which recently agreed to merge with
Petro-Canada—currently has an agreement to sell Phillips 66-brand gas in Colorado, which expires in July 2013, according to the report. Terms of the deal were not announced.
