The Health implications in terms of these projects are vast, and not just the deadly explosions and industrial accidents that happen in production-—from reported increases in rare forms of cancer downstream from tar sands production to the pollution of fresh water leading to poisoned diets (fish, moose and plant toxicity)—-direct links are hard to establish but impossible to either rule out or ignore, especially where tarsand operations constitute overwhelmingly the greatest change to the environment in most corners of the continent effected directly by tarsand infrastructure.
The stench of reality
The Gazette
Saturday, April 25 2009
The tar sands suddenly are a root metaphor for every pressing issue we face both as Canadians and as members of the human species, writes The Gazette's William Marsden in his essay The Perfect Moment. Here is an excerpt:
Leech Lake, Say No to Tar Sands Pipeline
April 29, 2009
By Nellis Kennedy and Winona LaDuke
Keep your children close, your inhalers in hand and don't forget to stock up on drinking water, as a new pipeline is proposed for northern Minnesota.
Kitimat project worth $1 billion to First Nations
Scott Simpson,
Canwest News Service
Victoria Times Colonist
April 30, 2009
Some First Nations stand to gain more than $1 billion in profits, taxes
and business opportunities from a proposed liquid natural gas project in
northern British Columbia, Canwest News Service has learned.
Proponents of a $4-billion project that includes a 463-kilometre gas
pipeline and a liquefied natural gas plant at Kitimat are still ironing
out final details of a landmark agreement among aboriginal groups,
EDMONTON — The Alberta government announced Tuesday that 53 charges have
been laid in the deaths of two foreign workers at an oilsands site two years
ago.
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., Sinopec Shanghai Engineering Company Ltd.,
and SSEC Canada Ltd., have been charged under the Occupational Health and
Safety Act.
A breakdown of the charges was not immediately available.
Alberta Employment Minister Hector Goudreau said the charges signal to the
world that Alberta's oilsands remain a safe place to work.
Do you know where your oil comes from?
Canadians most certainly do. But it's not a pretty sight.
April 16, 2009
By Sandro Contenta
TORONTO — When President Barack Obama vowed this week to reverse U.S. dependence on "foreign oil," did he also mean Canada's? It's a question Americans might want to consider.
Oilsands hearings due in Wood Buffalo in May
CAROL CHRISTIAN // April 16, 2009
Fort McMurray Today staff
The federal hearings on the impact of oilsands development on fresh water will be heading to the Wood Buffalo area next month, prompted by the urging of Edmonton MP Linda Duncan.
While hearings have been held in Ottawa since they resumed in March, hearing from government witnesses first, it was a bit of a battle to get them to Alberta, a victory that Duncan says was hard-fought.
Suncor fined over $1-million
Apr. 02 2009
ctvcalgary.ca
Suncor and one of its contractors have been ordered to pay over $1 million in fines after pleading guilty to breaching environmental laws.
Suncor pleaded guilty to not having emissions controls at its Firebag oilsands facility.
The lack of pollution control equipment meant hydrogen sulphide and other compounds were released into the air.
For this violation, Suncor Energy Inc. has been fined $675,000.
Suncor is also in trouble for allowing sewage to be dumped into the Athabasca River.
Doc’s claims ‘hurtful’: O’Connor
CAROL CHRISTIAN
Fort McMurray Today staff
After three years of drawing attention to elevated cancer rates in Fort Chipewyan, Dr. John O'Connor now finds himself at a loss to explain “hurtful” comments from a Health Canada medical officer of health that he misreported the cancers.
United Steelworkers Challenges TransCanada Keystone Pipeline Permit for Safety
PITTSBURGH, PA UNITED STATES
Joins Sierra Club filing on leak risk of under-standard thin-wall pipe
PITTSBURGH, April 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The United Steelworkers (USW) announced it has challenged the pending federal permit in the controversial $5.4 billion TransCanada Keystone Pipeline that's using under-standard thin-wall pipe for transport of crude oil from Alberta, Canada to Houston, Tex.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080131/DC12982LOGO)
Enbridge analyzed
By Rebecca Billard - Burns Lake Lakes District News
April 07, 2009 11:00 PM
