Energy

Don't let our country sink into this stuff
By WAYNE MADSEN
Special to McClatchy-Tribune

WASHINGTON -- Anything that allows America to continue its narcotic-like dependence on carbon fossil fuels -- whether the sprawling tar sands of Canada or the petroleum pools under Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- misses the point about shifting to alternative energy.

Alternative sources should be real energy alternatives such as wind, solar and geothermal power rather than alternative fossil fuel sources that often give off more greenhouse gases than conventional crude oil.

The war about what to do about the tar sands oil is well under way, and the article below is the kind of propaganda we should get used to about how much the US needs the tar sands product. In the case of the Michigan area, it should be noted that the expanding refinery capacity would include dumping into the Great Lakes. All of it increases the destruction in Northern Alberta. So these arguments are purely based (below) on a "so lifestyle and consumption patterns don't change" line of thinking.

--M

Don't let tar sand oil slip away

BY MARK J. PERRY • March 31, 2008

Imperial Oil Loses Oil-Sands Water Permit, Globe and Mail Says

By Sean B. Pasternak

March 31 (Bloomberg) -- The Canadian government revoked a water permit that is key to Imperial Oil Ltd.'s C$8 billion ($7.8 billion) Kearl oil-sands project, the Globe and Mail reported.

Shell wants to produce five times more oil from tar sands

* Terry Macalister
* The Guardian,
* Tuesday March 18 2008
This article appeared in the Guardian on Tuesday March 18 2008 on p32 of the Financial section. It was last updated at 00:49 on March 18 2008.

Shell is gearing up for a huge expansion of its carbon-intensive tar sands operation in Canada at a time when it has been struggling to replace conventional reserves.

EnCana Project Reaps, Refines 'Tar Sands' Oil
March 26, 2008: 08:05 PM EST (Investor's Business Daily delivered by Newstex) --

On Wednesday we examined how well Canada stands as investors unlock their bank accounts and jump back into stocks. Much of the fortunes up north may depend on commodity prices.

Taking a look at Canada's recent winners, we see lots of natural resources companies, such as oil and gas, gold and silver, base metals, and wheat.

Prices for these raw goods recently plunged after major run-ups, so passing on a gold mine or an oil driller may have been smart.

The people of Hartley Bay feel a bit more uneasy today
Jack Knox, canwest news services
Published: Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Six metres of snow in Hartley Bay so far this winter.

Usually it snows, then melts, then rains in a pattern that repeats all season long, but this year it just kept snowing and snowing until it piled high above the raised boardwalks that take the place of roads in the tiny coastal settlement.

Government is listening to polluters
Mar 24, 2008 04:30 AM
John Bennett

Federal Environment Minister John Baird claims new regulations announced this month for industry greenhouse gas emitters are "tough – tougher than any anywhere."

So why aren't environmentalists standing up and cheering?

Only a few years ago Stephen Harper called Kyoto "a socialist plot" – but now his government is calling for future oil-sands operations to capture and store the greenhouse gases they create. The Conservative government sure has come a long way, hasn't it? Well no, it hasn't.

Push to bar oil sands to US military
By Sheila McNulty in Houston
Published: March 18 2008 17:11

The powerful chairman of a key congressional committee is pressing the US federal government to comply with energy legislation that bars the use of fuel from Canada’s oil sands.

The legislation, signed into law Dec 19 last year, prohibits the federal government from procuring fuels with a higher greenhouse gas content than conventional fuels, such as that from Canada’s oil sands or coal-to-liquids.

TransCanada to build new pipeline to US

The TransCanada Company announced that it has been granted permission to build a USD 5.2 billion pipeline to export crude oil to the United States.

The TransCanada Company in a statement said that "The US Department of State issued a presidential permit to Keystone authorizing the construction, maintenance and operation of facilities at the United States and Canada border to transport crude oil between the two countries.”

Anthony Kovats // CAF
Tuesday March 11, 2008

The ritual is as old as the giant and enveloping forest itself.
Every spring, the shores of Lesser Slave, Peerless and North and South Wabasca Lakes explode with colour and sound as North America’s migratory songbirds return to the continent’s vast northern forest.
American robins with their robust red breasts join the cacophony of sounds generated by Tennessee, Connecticut and Canada warblers as they gorge on caterpillars and insects in the budding branches.
This is the boreal forest.