Energy

Uranium exploration could open Pandora’s box, critics fear
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
By Chris Oke Special to the Yukon News

Cash Minerals’ application to build a winter road along the Wind River Trail to further its search for uranium deposits concerns tourism and environmental groups.

Most troubling is the very mineral the exploration company is searching for.

For the past four years, Cash Minerals has been hunting for the radioactive metal.

“I see no reason why they shouldn’t mine uranium,” said Yukon Chamber of Mines president John Witham.

Canadian quarterly oil and banking profits rise
CanWest News Service

OTTAWA -- The energy and banking industries spurred a 5.8-per-cent
surge in Canadian third-quarter operating profits to a record high
$67 billion, Statistics Canada reported Thursday. At least one
analyst, however, warns the days of record profits may be coming to
an end.

Oil and banking accounted for almost half of the country's gains in
operating profits, the government agency said. The biggest profit
increases posted in the manufacturing sector were in motor vehicles,

Look at their plans, and look at the future pipeline grid. It is not about only getting gas to the US to heat homes, it is also about expanding the tar sands to unfathomable levels. They lie. ConocoPhilips lies. TransCanada lies. Imperial Lies. Suncor and Syncrude lie. They are not our partners, they are our enemies. Be clear about that. They lie.

Excerpt:

"Because construction isn't likely to begin before 2013 or 2014, the Alaska project isn't likely in direct competition with a plan to build a gas pipeline from the Mackenzie Delta in the Northwest Territories to Alberta. Mackenzie construction could start in late 2009 if it receives regulatory approval."

Labour group: oilpatch boom causes companies to cut corners on safety
Canadian Press, Calgary, Alberta, November 29, 2007

The head of Alberta's Federation of Labour says the province's economic boom has caused some companies to cut corners on worker safety­an issue highlighted this week when a fire killed two workers on a major Enbridge Inc. (TSX:ENB) pipeline in Minnesota.

"Health and safety has become much more of an issue in Alberta workplaces right across the board since the economy has gone on such a booming trend," Gil McGowan said Thursday in an interview.

Rise in tanker traffic sparks fear of spills
Concern about a crude spill has one councillor trying to slow the increase of exports from Burnaby terminal

DON WHITELEY

Special to The Globe and Mail

November 27, 2007

VANCOUVER -- The potential for large increases in exports of crude oil through the Port of Vancouver has local politicians concerned about the port's growing vulnerability to oil spills.

Colorado, unlike much of the US, cannot convince its commerce department and those involved in industry that it is alright to ignore Alberta's hydrocarbon devastation programs. Many have shown how the American media in publications such as the Washington Post or New York Times can be quite honest about the death of the land and air north of Fort McMurray and elsewhere.

TransCanada Corp. seeks permit to build $983M gas pipeline in Alberta
at 16:24 on November 21, 2007, EST.

THE CANADIAN PRESS

CALGARY - A TransCanada Corp. (TSX:TRP) subsidiary is seeking permission to build a 300-kilometre natural gas pipeline in Alberta at an estimated cost of $983 million, largely to transport fuel to oilsands operations in the province's northeast.

TransCanada said Wednesday that Nova Gas Transmission's application to the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board comes after 11 years of considering the North Central Corridor.

"The system of slavery is like holding a wolf by its ears: you don't like
it, but you don't dare let go."
- Thomas Jefferson

The oil sands and slavery

By Frederick Douglass*

It was once the case that slaves were the most valuable asset in America. As the horrors of slavery began to be documented and a concern that this was a horrible practice spread, the justifications for continued slavery sound eerily familiar to the justifications for the continuation and massive expansion of the oil sands.

System Design in NW Alberta

Media coverage of energy developments often refers to the facilities TransCanada may construct to accommodate new sources of gas in Northwest Alberta. One recent article indicated TransCanada is building a direct pipeline from the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline to Fort McMurray. This is not the case.

To ensure customers have a clear understanding of TransCanada's plans for expansion of the Alberta System, we sat down with Dave Murray, Manager, Mainline Planning West for an overview of the subject.