Oil Sands Truth: Shut Down the Tar Sands

Energy

Energy and how it is captured and consumed is barely viable in tar sands production. While the amount of oil in places such as the tar sands in Alberta or the Orinoco Belt in Venezuela may have deposits of similar size to the reserves of countries such as Saudi Arabia or Iraq, the return of new energy after expending energy in production is not even close. In Iraq, the process of using one barrel of oil generates 100 new barrels. In the tar sands, estimates of 3 to 1 and even as low as 1.5 to 1 have been made. Offsetting the net energy loss would require minimally 25-30 tar sands facilities for one Saudi plant operating at the same capacity.

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High-frequency trades cited for OPTI share surge

OPTI, in partnership with Nexen, is parented by Israeli corporation Ormat (who also own many shares in the ostensibly Canadian OPTI) and uses the worst climate changing form of procedure available-- borrowed from Ormat who patented it in historical Palestine as "Or Crude", called "cogeneration" in Canada. It's a procedure of burning the waste gunk from the bottom of a previously extracted barrel to power the operations of getting more bitumen.

Inuvik businesses hit by MGM Energy's drilling delay

Inuvik businesses hit by MGM Energy's drilling delay
Friday, September 18, 2009
CBC News

Some businesses in Inuvik, N.W.T., have less work lined up for the coming months after a Canadian gas exploration company said it won't explore in the region this winter.

MGM Energy Corp. announced this week that it will postpone drilling in the Mackenzie Delta region in the 2009-10 winter drilling season, citing continued uncertainty surrounding the proposed Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline project.

Alberta Clipper oil pipeline project creates housing crunch in Bemidji

Alberta Clipper oil pipeline project creates housing crunch in Bemidji
Posted: Sep 16, 2009

BEMIDJI, Minn. (AP) -- The influx of workers building the new Alberta Clipper oil pipeline across northern Minnesota has meant a shortage of rental housing in the Bemidji area.

Some homeowners are renting rooms to pipeline workers and a local hotel that's been closed for several years may reopen as construction activity ramps up.

NWT minister bullish on both Arctic gas pipelines

NWT minister bullish on both Arctic gas pipelines
Fri Sep 18, 2009
By Yereth Rosen

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Despite economic recession, financial skittishness and emergence of alterative supplies, the energy minister for Canada's Northwest Territories said Thursday he is confident the huge gas pipelines from both the Mackenzie Valley and Alaska's North Slope will be built and will supply North American markets.

Mackenzie delays prompt MGM to put Arctic drilling plans on ice this winter

By Lauren Krugel (CP)
September 17, 2009

CALGARY — MGM Energy Corp. (TSX:MGM), a junior company focused on exploiting natural gas in the high Arctic, is putting its drilling plans on ice this winter as uncertainty persists around the development of the Mackenzie pipeline.

"With really nothing going ahead, we just couldn't justify spending the money and drilling the wells," Henry Sykes, president of the Calgary-based company told an energy conference hosted by Calgary brokerage Peters & Co. Wednesday.

Greenpeace Ends Shutdown Occupation of Albian Sands Muskeg River Mine

Greenpeace ends Alberta oilsands protest
Last Updated: Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Protesters from Greenpeace occupied two dump trucks and unfurled a banner on the ground at Shell's Albian Sands oilsands site in northern Alberta Tuesday.

The Greenpeace protest at the Albian Sands oilsands site north of Fort McMurray, Alta., ended peacefully Wednesday afternoon after the company and RCMP agreed to let the protesters leave without facing any charges.

The deal was revealed after protesters met with Shell officials and the RCMP.

Residents of Peace River region call gas development 'a tsunami' as saboteur's deadline passes

BC Pipeline Bombings
Residents of Peace River region call gas development 'a tsunami' as saboteur's deadline passes

Chris Arsenault
Vue Weekly, September 15, 2009.

Suncor ‘all about the tar sands' again

Suncor ‘all about the oil sands' again
After its merger with Petro-Canada, Canada's biggest energy company is backing away from natural gas

Shawn McCarthy
Toronto — Globe and Mail
Sep. 16, 2009

Canada's biggest energy company is putting natural gas on the back burner.

Suncor Energy Inc. plans to sell a significant portion of the natural gas portfolio it inherited from Petro-Canada as it prepares to restart its expansion plans in the oil sands.

No special treatment for tar sands

No special treatment for tar sands
Sep 16, 2009
James Hansen
TheStar.com

In 1988, when I addressed the U.S. Congress on the dangers of global warming, I warned leaders that it was time to stop waffling. Humans were changing the climate in new and dangerous ways and we needed to take action. At the time, I knew we could expect stiff resistance from the usual suspects, but if you had told me that 20 years later, one of the most stubborn holdouts would be a self-interested Canada, I wouldn't have believed you.

As Obama and Harper meet, activists block mine and company faces trial

U.S., Canada ties get messy with oil sands issue
As Obama and Harper meet, activists block mine and company faces trial
Sept. 16, 2009
MSNBC

WASHINGTON - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Wednesday met with President Barack Obama at the White House, bringing with him some environmental baggage: Activists back home were squatting at a huge open pit mine used to get oil from tar sands, while a company this week pleaded not guilty to charges it was negligent in the deaths of 1,600 birds that flew into a tar sands waste reservoir.