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.
Why the British are invading the oil patch
Nathan Vanderklippe
Calgary — Globe and Mail
Sep. 09, 2009
At a time when thousands of Alberta's oil and construction workers have lost their jobs, the British Trade Office in Calgary has added to its numbers as it handles a surge in interest from corporations back home, many of them interested in bringing to Canada expertise gained from work in the North Sea.
Syncrude pleads not guilty to duck deaths
September 15, 2009
ROLAND CILLIERS
Fort McMurray Today staff
Syncrude Canada is pleading not guilty to government charges laid as a result of 1,606 birds that were killed on the companies work-site last year.
Oil sands under attack on environment
The industry is accustomed to defending its image in North America, but it now faces a multifront war, with opposition growing from Norway to Washington
Shawn McCarthy
Ottawa — Globe and Mail
Sep. 15, 2009
The environmental battle over Alberta's oil sands is going global, forcing the industry to respond to new attacks on its record and putting fresh pressure on Ottawa.
Norwegian vote may kill oilsands stake
Statoil's Alberta role an issue in election
By Shaun Polczer, Calgary Herald
September 12, 2009
T he fate of Statoil- Hydro's oilsands investments in Canada could hinge on the outcome of Norway's general election Monday.
The presence of Norway's state-owned oil producer in northeast Alberta has emerged as a contentious issue in the country's bitterly contested vote, which some are saying is too close to call.
Herein is revealed the 'true' nature of the Green Shift-- a massive resource giveaway to the worst environmental criminals on the planet.
In glut, EnCana's big find untapped
Company won't develop third-largest field until demand recovers and that
will take a major market shift
Shawn McCarthy
Ottawa -- Globe and Mail Update Last updated on Thursday, Sep. 10, 2009
08:02AM EDT
EnCana Corp is touting the Horn River shale deposits in British Columbia as the
continent's third-largest natural gas field, but needs a fundamental
Protests in Britain target Canada's oilsands
Updated Sat. Sep. 5 2009
Ian Munroe, CTV.ca News
A handful of First Nations activists returned home last week after grabbing national headlines in England for protesting Alberta's oilsands developments.
They had travelled to a London suburb as part of a week-long gathering of several thousand environmental campaigners, dubbed the Climate Camp.
Among other concerns, the First Nations group hoped to pressure British Petroleum to halt plans for an oilsands extraction project in northern Alberta.
Tar czar: Ignatieff panders to Alberta's Big Oil
By Derrick O'Keefe
September 9, 2009
Near the end of Michael Ignatieff’s True Patriot Love -- an exploration of the men in his mother’s family rushed to publication in an effort to assert his Canadian bona fides -- we are treated to a play-by-play of the road trip he and his wife took in 2000, retracing the pioneering sea-to-sea journey of his great-grandfather.
Tar sands: Downplaying a mistake
By Emily Hunter
| September 8, 2009
Today I hit Calgary in my journey to the tar sands, the oil headquarters of Alberta. All the oil giants rest in this part of Albertan land -- Esso, Shell, Petro Canada -- who all have their hands in the tar sands. Here I spoke with the united face of the oil companies, CAPP (the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers). I tried to confront them in oil pains to the planet. But there answer was more of the same, that the tar sands is more or less 'sustainable.' But is this true?
Coalition files lawsuit over Enbridge Alberta Clipper pipeline
September 8, 2009
CAROL CHRISTIAN
Fort McMurray Today staff
True to their word, an environmental coalition has filed suit in California challenging the recent U.S. presidential permit granted to a controversial pipeline running from Alberta across the Canada-U.S. border to Wisconsin.
A greener Washington? Not in the pipeline
Aug 29, 2009
Southern Ontario's smog days will be even dirtier thanks to a decision by the U.S. State Department on behalf of President Barack Obama.
It has granted a presidential permit for construction of the U.S. portion of an Enbridge Inc. pipeline to carry oil – initially, 450,000 barrels a day and eventually, 800,000 barrels – from Alberta's tar sands to refineries in the U.S. Midwest, as near us as Detroit.
