It is falsely assumed that big projects equal lots of jobs and, by extension, labour peace if not outright satisfaction. The size and scope of the tarsands means for incredibly dangerous work conditions-- some fatalities at the plants have already occurred. The products seldom get their "value added" in union-run locations, instead the heavy bitumen can be shipped to many different locations across North America for refining, denying benefits to the union. However, the Union does not represent the "guest worker", now being imported in increasing numbers as legislation is changed to make access easier, the term of exploitation last longer, without any new efforts or pathways to deciding to stay after helping tear up the earth.
Enbridge delays Gulf Coast pipeline
Company blames lagging output in oil sands as it pushes back project to 2014
NORVAL SCOTT AND SHAWN MCCARTHY
July 10, 2008
CALGARY, OTTAWA -- Enbridge Inc. is pushing back plans to build a $2.6-billion pipeline that would connect the oil sands to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast, blaming the delay on the slow pace of development in Alberta.
Stupid oilsands schemes
Oilpatch welfare smacks of Don Getty years
By NEIL WAUGH, EDMONTON SUN
Tue, July 15, 2008
Premier Ed Stelmach was spreading the good news last week in hopes of deflecting any bad news he might get later this week when he meets his provincial counterparts in Quebec City.
"We need to spread the word," the premier told oil industry execs a day after unleashing $2 billion in oilpatch welfare, which had haunting echoes of the pump-priming Don Getty years.
"Our province is a reliable supplier of abundant energy produced in a responsible manner."
Oilpatch stares at boots amid record prices
Deborah Yedlin, Calgary Herald
Published: Saturday, July 12, 2008
With oil and natural gas trading at more than double where they were during Stampede Week last year, you'd think there would be a feeling of ebullience around town for this year's festivities.
Wrong.
For some reason, there's an unmistakably muted feeling. Sure, there are always the Stampede curmudgeons who opt to leave town or refuse to don their jeans and cowboy boots, but this year it's different.
CLIMATE CHANGE WILL HAVE MAJOR IMPACT ON FISHING INDUSTRY, SAYS UN AGENCY
New York, Jul 10 2008 11:00AM
Climate change is already impacting the world's oceans and will have serious consequences for the hundreds of millions of people who depend on fishing for their livelihoods, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Oil sands: Canada's dirty secret
As oil prices continue to reach record highs, the search for new sources of energy has led the world to Alberta, Canada, and its vast oil sands. Now, John Vidal finds, the country famed for its wilderness and clean living finds itself caught between fuelling the world's oil-hungry economy and the ecological devastation and soaring greenhouse gas emissions that exploiting the tar sands produces
* John Vidal, environment editor, in Fort McMurray
* guardian.co.uk,
* Friday July 11, 2008
Oil hits record near $147 as supply fears intensify
Santosh Menon, Reuters
Published: Friday, July 11, 2008
LONDON (Reuters) - Oil leapt $5 to a new record high near $147 a barrel on Friday, spurred by growing worries of threats to supplies from Iran and Nigeria and the possibility of a strike by Brazilian oil workers next week.
U.S. crude was $4.85 at $146.50 a barrel by 9:15 a.m. EDT, off highs of $146.90, taking gains in just two sessions to over $10. It rose $5.60 or 4 percent a barrel on Thursday in a late burst of buying activity.
Shell backs out of oil sands project
July 10, 2008 // Post-Tribune staff writers
By Gitte Laasby and Christin Nance Lazerus
An oil giant that planned to refine the same Canadian tar sands as BP
Whiting has canceled plans for an expansion in Ontario.
Shell Canada is scrapping a proposed refinery project in Sarnia, which would
have turned tar-like crude from oil sands in Alberta, Canada, into
refinery-ready light oil, the company announced Tuesday.
But BP Whiting's modernization will continue to move forward, BP spokeswoman
Fri, July 4, 2008
Fort St. John ready to handle oil and gas boom
By LAUREN KRUGEL, THE CANADIAN PRESS
FORT ST. JOHN, B.C., -- Whose motto is "The Energetic City" -- will be able to avoid many of challenges that have become synonymous with the oilsands boomtown of Fort McMurray, Alta., said the city's mayor.
Two enormous natural gas finds in northeastern B.C. -- the Montney Trend and the Horn River Basin -- have piqued the interest of a number of big U.S. and Canadian oil and gas names and sent a massive amount of investment pouring into the region.
Despite what they write below, CLAC is not a "union", but an anti-union bosses association of workers. Nonetheless, this article is the first time that the two killed Temporary foreign workers names have been released to my knowledge. Their widows had recently made it known that only 12 percent of their husbands wages have ever reached them, long after their deaths at the hands of Canadian Natural Resources Ltd's speed ups in construction. Take the following "labour" press release with a major grain of salt.
--M
Widow of worker killed in Alberta finally gets compensation
