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.
Alberta government on hot seat after Syncrude duck death toll hits 1,606
By Kelly Cryderman, Calgary Herald
April 1, 2009
Oilsands giant Syncrude revealed Tuesday that 1,600 waterfowl drowned in a tailings pond near Fort McMurray last April -- more than three times the original estimate of dead birds.
Environmental critics such as the Sierra Club of Canada, Greenpeace and Ecojustice immediately jumped on the fact the real figure has been hidden from the public for months.
Wed, April 1, 2009
Fowl fatal figure flap
Syncrude reveals duck tragedy triple initial toll - which it and province knew in July
By KERRY DIOTTE, LEGISLATURE BUREAU CHIEF
Province knew in July the real toll at the tailings pond.
Syncrude and the Alberta government knew nine months ago that three times as many ducks died in an oilsands tailings pond than initially reported - but officials didn't make the higher death toll public until yesterday.
Oilsands worker in coma after skull fractured in accident
By Ben Gelinas, edmontonjournal.com
March 29, 2009
EDMONTON — A 19-year-old contractor for Devon Energy is in an induced coma after he was hit in the head with a 2X4 on a construction site about 30 kilometres southeast of Conklin at the company's Jackfish 2 oilsands site.
The man was operating a small ride-on packer, levelling a tank base under construction around 9 a.m. Saturday, when his machine caught a rope used to secure a wooden light-tower nearby.
March 24, 2009
30 Years and Counting
People Died at Three Mile Island
By HARVEY WASSERMAN
People died--and are still dying--at Three Mile Island.
As the thirtieth anniversary of America's most infamous industrial accident approaches, we mourn the deaths that accompanied the biggest string of lies ever told in US industrial history.
As news of the accident poured into the global media, the public was assured there were no radiation releases.
That quickly proved to be false.
Separating Deh cho politics from business
Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, March 26, 2009
LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON - A recent forum held in Fort Simpson is being hailed as the first step in a new chapter of economic and business development in the Deh Cho.
The goal of the forum was to discuss economic development in the Deh Cho and the separation of politics and business within the Dehcho First Nations (DFN), said Cynthia Cardinal James, the chairperson of the Dehcho Economic Corporation.
"It's just in the interest of better business," she said.
City councillor wants tar sands halted
Tim Edwards
Northern News Services
Published Friday, March 27, 2009
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - City council appears set to vote in favour of a motion calling on Alberta's government to halt new tar sands development south of the NWT border.
City council will vote on a motion next month which calls on the Alberta government to halt tar sands development until a number of environmental measures have been met.
Tar Sand Demands:
1. Public contingency plans for catastrophic breaches of oil sands tailing ponds.
From the Athabasca to the Saint Lawrence and the Great Lakes:
Events in Montréal, Toronto, Ann Arbor and Chicago.
Montreal Event:
Tar Sands: Stopping the flow of destruction
from the ATHABASCA to the SAINT LAWRENCE
WHEN: Friday March 20, 7pm
WHERE: Room 26, Stephen Leacock Bldg (855 Sherbrooke Ouest)
Toronto Event:
WHEN: Saturday, March 21, 7pm
WHERE: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE)
252 Bloor St. West, Room 5-250
Ann Arbor Event:
Tuesday, March 24. TBA
Chicago Event:
WHEN: Wednesday, March 25. 6:45pm.
WHERE: The Lincoln Park Library Auditorium.
Former Fort Chip doctor calls for oilsands slowdown
Last Updated: Monday, March 9, 2009
CBC News
Dr. John O'Connor, shown here in Edmonton Sunday, is featured in Downstream, a documentary by American filmmaker Leslie Iwerks. Dr. John O'Connor, shown here in Edmonton Sunday, is featured in Downstream, a documentary by American filmmaker Leslie Iwerks. (CBC)
The doctor who first raised concerns about cancer rates in Fort Chipewyan, Alta., three years ago — and became the target of a professional complaint — said on Sunday he'd do it all again.
Double talk on tar sands
Mar 01, 2009 04:30 AM
Toronto Star
Alberta's tar sands have always been a political hot potato. Now they are being tarred by no less an authority than National Geographic as a blight on the boreal forests and a pox on the planet.
There is something about being featured in foreign publications that captures the attention of Canadians unlike anything else. Now, federal politicians are weighing in with alacrity, if not quite clarity, about the place of the tar sands in Canada's future.
