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.
Tar Sands Protesters Hang Banner at RBC’s Toronto Headquarters
By Sean B. Pasternak and Doug Alexander
July 28 (Bloomberg) -- Protesters hung a 15-foot-long banner at the Toronto headquarters of Royal Bank of Canada, asking the wife of Chief Executive Officer Gordon Nixon to help end the bank’s involvement in funding tar sands projects.
Clean energy, not photo-op, should be premiers' priority
Provincial agreement on pollution standards would clear the way for action by Ottawa
Aug 05, 2009
Rick Smith
Executive Director of Environmental Defence
When Canada's premiers gather each year, they usually are so concerned with polite, and boring, diplomacy that the only thing that makes the news is the picture of the provincial leaders all wearing the same themed clothing. Cowboy hats for everyone!
Nuclear Power Causes Cancer: What Industry Doesn't Want You To Know
Samuel Epstein,
Cancer prevention expert, prof. emeritus at U. of IL School of Public Health, Chicago
August 4, 2009
Huffington Post
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
