Forests lose more trees and habitat to pipeline “right of way” cuts and tar pit building than to clearcuts. With minor variation, pipelines go the direct route. Through the strip mining of the land that contains tarsand petroleum and through pipeline construction to accomodate, only the Amazon Basin in Brazil would see larger rates of deforestation than the Boreal forest cover surrendered to the tarsands. Roads often accompany pipelines, as do various other developments. Hundreds of thousands of miles of forests, all combined, have been lost to infrastructure built to accommodate tarsands operations. Now the industry wants to build two approximately 1200 km long Mackenzie and Gateway pipelines as well as 2700 km's from Alaska's North Slope to accomodate tarsand oil production.
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.
Grizzlies starve as salmon disappear
As salmon numbers drop, bears are also few and far between along B.C.'s wild central coast – signalling what conservationists say is an unfolding ecological disaster
Mark Hume
Vancouver — From Wednesday's Globe and Mail Sep. 09, 2009
First the salmon vanished, now the bears may be gone too.
City-B.C. oil pipeline sighted
Enbridge could apply for approval this year, bank says
Edmonton Journal
August 28, 2009
And Scotiabank commodities specialist Patricia Mohr said developing new export markets in Asia is vital if Canada is to fully exploit the economic advantage of owning the world's second-largest oil reserves.
"The Alberta oilsands represent a key 'strong suit' for the Canadian economy; the development of lucrative export outlets and transportation infrastructure for this resource is key to Canada's growth prospects," Mohr said in the report.
Return to Tarmageddon
An Italian company's plan to develop tar sands in the Congo has activists worried
by Ben Powless
The Dominion
August 28, 2009
IGLESIAS, ITALY—You’ve likely heard about the tar sands in northern Alberta. You’re probably familiar with the devastation—environmental and social—this megaproject has brought to the land. Maybe you even have a relative who lives or works there.
Enbridge protester strong-armed
Written by Sonja Ostertag
Prince George
Friday, 31 July 2009
I am a student at UNBC and I attended the Enbridge-sponsored World Baseball Challenge in Prince George on July 25 and 26 to protest the proposed Enbridge pipeline and tanker project.
The peaceful and legal protest was organized by the Dogwood Initiative and our goal was to inform baseball fans that Enbridge is planning to build a pipeline in northern B.C. that could lead to oil spills on the B.C. coast.
Tar sands oil dirty as ever despite Alberta and industry spin: Sierra Club
on Aug 3rd, 2009
CALGARY, OTTAWA – Tar sands oil is as dirty as ever despite the most recent communications spin by the Alberta government and oil industry says Sierra Club Canada.
Alberta cuts funding for acid-rain tests
Edmonton — The Canadian Press
Aug. 18, 2009
Alberta has cut funding for tests to determine how much acid rain is falling in the oil sands region around Fort McMurray, according to a government document obtained by The Canadian Press.
The cut went ahead even though the briefing note for the province's Environment Minister dated Aug. 11 acknowledges acid rain is falling on the energy boomtown.
The note adds that precipitation falling in northeastern Alberta has a "similar" acidity to that falling downwind in Saskatchewan.
Another Double-Dealing Democrat
Why Does Jon Tester Want to Log Wild Montana?
Weekend Edition
July 17-19, 2009
By PAUL RICHARDS
I have seen a draft of the Tester Logging Bill, to be publicly announced at the RY Sawmill in Townsend on Friday, July 17, 2009. The Tester Logging Bill is in direct contradiction to a specific May 30, 2006, campaign promise made by then-State Sen. Jon Tester to secure the votes of my supporters in the June 6, 2006, Democratic primary race for U.S. Senate.
Environmentalists trying to stop sound bombs
Updated: Fri Aug. 14 2009 09:31:54
The Canadian Press
Environmentalists are in Federal Court hoping to block seismic testing that will send high decibel blasts into the ocean off Vancouver Island, possibly harming whales and other marine life in the area.
A U.S. research team wants to investigate the tectonic plates making up the ocean sub-floor around the Endeavour Hydrothermal Vents marine protected area, 250 kilometres west of Vancouver Island.
Members of First Nations along the corridor being discussed have said that such "consultations" should not take place, since they have already indicated an explicit NO to pipelines, tanker traffic, ports and more. Holding these very hearings is a clear VIOLATION of indigenous sovereignty. This position deserves support.
--M
Funding offered for Northern Gateway environmental assessment
By Amelia Bellamy-Royds August 7, 2009 05:25 pm
