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.
Palin's Pipeline: Clean Energy for the Lower 48 or Power for the Tar Sands?
by Abby Schultz - Jun 29th, 2009
Where the natural gas from the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline will end up is a murky question tied up in a 30-year-old treaty, expansion of Canadian tar sands operations, and trends in natural gas supplies both in the United States and in Canada.
Irving Oil and BP Will Not Proceed With Proposed Second Refinery
Release date: 24 July 2009
BP and Irving Oil announced today they will not be moving forward at this time with the proposed second refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick, as a result of global economic and industry conditions
The joint technical and commercial feasibility study that the two companies have been conducting over the last 18 months concluded that the project was not viable at a time of global economic recession and dampening forecasts for petroleum product demand in North America.
Dene Chief Upset Over Canadian Defence Report
By SHAWN BELL, SRJ Reporter 21.JUL.09
Bill Erasmus Dene National Chief
The Dene Nation has denounced a new report that claims Treaty 8 First Nations pose a threat of violence to oilsands and other resource development in Western Canada.
The report, prepared for the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute by Tom Flanagan, states that incidences of violence and protests over resource development will continue as Aboriginal rights and environmentalist movements grow.
Cobra Oil & Gas Provides Technology Update for Utah Oil Sands Prospect
July 23, 2009 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
This is a HUGE deal; as a result of the largest single tar sands operator expanding the amount of procesing done in the US, the number-- according to the FTA and NAFTA-- can NEVER GO BACK DOWN in terms of percentage, or "proportion".
This is where the "proportionality clause" kicks in; the amount of an energy source sent south in one day must stay at that proportion permanently.
Therefore this is the announcement that the state of Canada is now further beholden to the US state, never mind what happens to the indigenous nations as a direct result.
--M
Chevron to appeal ruling on Richmond refinery
Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, July 9, 2009
(07-08) 18:40 PDT -- Chevron Corp. will appeal a judge's order that it halt an upgrade to its Richmond refinery and revise its environmental review, a ruling that the company blames for causing more than a thousand layoffs.
"We think the judge was wrong," refinery manager Mike Coyle said Tuesday, as he showed off two huge furnaces at the center of the dispute.
Commissioners Approve Pipeline Right-Of-Way
Pretty significant pipeline, says Mayor
Molly Payne
1600kush.com
07/20/2009
Road to coast preferable to highway
Guy Quenneville
Northern News Services
Published Monday, July 20, 2009
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - In Lou Covello's mind, the NWT and Nunavut chamber's most controversial suggestion is not the development of mining towns but the construction of a road through the Slave Geological Province - host to a considerable concentration of mineral deposits - from Yellowknife to the Coronation Gulf.
The proposed road would be more economically rewarding than the Mackenzie Valley Highway, said Covello, the president of the NWT Nunavut Chamber of Mines.
Alberta seeks input on bitumen royalties
By Jason Fekete, Calgary Herald
July 21, 2009
CALGARY - The Stelmach government is expected to ask energy producers today for their interest in a new provincial bitumen royalty-in-kind policy, as the premier faces mounting criticism for failing to keep his promise to stem the flow of oilsands to the United States.
RCMP seek input on providing culturally sensitive security during 2010 Games
By Charlie Smith - Publish Date: July 19, 2009
Olympic security officials have approached a local multicultural organization for help in providing culturally sensitive security during the 2010 Games.
On behalf of Sukhvinder Vinning, vice president of the Multifaith Action Society, former Vancouver city councillor Nancy Chiavario has sent an e-mail announcing an opportunity for people to discuss issues pertinent to their faiths with an RCMP officer.
