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.
Whiting hosts Earth Day event
BY DEBORAH LAVERTY
Sunday, April 20, 2008
WHITING | A San Francisco-based environmentalist on Saturday encouraged a group gathered at an Earth Day event to get involved to make a difference.
"Industry is unaccountable. ... On the other side we're seeing people stand up to them when they get organized and get educated. You're invincible," said Ruth Breech, of Global Community Monitor.
It's important to know their rhetoric, but given the lack of other natural gas sources available and the massive energy needs for the expansion of the tar sands as planned by the Governments of Alberta, Canada and the US (along with the major oil corporations and the Department of Energy) this is going to be used by one pipeline to prod the other, to get concessions, and to overall "grease the process" in order to make this pipeline or that pipeline happen faster.
Oil prices hit 114 dollars a barrel
5 hours ago
Crude oil prices rose to a new record above 114 US dollars a barrel as investors opted for commodities over a weaker dollar.
Light, sweet crude for May delivery reached 114.53 dollars in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange before falling back slightly.
The latest spike followed on from Tuesday's record-breaking run above the 113-dollar mark.
Suncor Energy reports oil sands production numbers for March 2008
CALGARY, April 3, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Suncor Energy Inc. reported today that production at its oil sands facility during March averaged approximately 248,000 barrels per day (bpd). Year-to-date oil sands production at the end of March averaged approximately 247,000 bpd. Suncor is targeting average oil sands production of 275,000 to 300,000 bpd in 2008.
Canada is in the middle of a quiet oil boom
Tar sands, long too expensive to process, help make it major U.S. source
By Peter Klein
CNBC
updated 2:29 p.m. MT, Mon., April. 7, 2008
Ft. McMurray, Alberta - With oil prices hovering near a hundred dollars a barrel, there’s a major oil boom underway. It’s not happening in the sweltering heat of Texas or the dry desert of Saudi Arabia, but on the frozen Canadian tundra where oil producers are developing a new source of fossil fuel.
Iraq War
Five years of war in Iraq have hit home in Edmonton
DAVID BERRY / david@vueweekly.com
The further we get away from the actual date, the better Canada’s decision to not get involved with the US invasion of Iraq looks. Five years after the US launched its ill-conceived assault on the Middle Eastern nation, there aren’t many—except perhaps those in the highest offices of the American government—who consider the situation anything but a quagmire.
Clip from the article below:
He said Alberta, because of its ongoing labour woes, has become "ground zero" for the Temporary Foreign Worker program, which has expanded into "a huge social and economic experiment that's in the process of going horribly wrong."
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Taking a bet on oil sands
WITH crude oil hitting a record price of US$108 per barrel recently, the search for oil and gas has been more intense than ever due to its high profit margin.
In recent years, investing in the extraction of oil from sand or oil sands is gaining popularity because of the strong demand and high prices of oil.
With each new project, the practical viability of a mere moratorium on tar sands production becomes ever more clear.
As one can see by both crunching the numbers on energy input needs for tar sands expansion proposals or by glancing at the 2030 proposed pipelines map on the sidebar of this site, this gas is not destinted, for the large component, for Chicago. It would be destined for the Albertan energy grid to turn tar sands deposits into "oil".
--M
Pipeline path to Canada assailed
ALASKA GAS: Critics of TransCanada's plan cite profit, exclusivity.
By WESLEY LOY wloy@adn.com
Published: March 25th, 2008 12:03 AM
