Peak Oil

Proportionality
by Richard Heinberg
Energy Bulletin (February 07 2008)

There is a strange clause in the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) that applies to only one country - Canada. The clause states
that Canada must continue to supply the same proportion of its oil and
gas resources to the US in future years as it does now. That's rather a
good deal for the US: it formalizes Canada's status as a resource
satellite of its imperial hub to the south.

From a Canadian perspective there are some problems with the

The Great Coal Rush and Why It Will Fail
by Richard Heinberg
MuseLetter #190 (February 2008)

This MuseLetter, and several more during the next few months, will be
chapters for a forthcoming book on coal, to be published by Post Carbon
Press. This month's issue is the book's Introduction.

The world appears poised for a headlong sprint toward greater dependence
on coal. This book's purpose is to examine one crucial question that
will shape this next great coal rush: How much is left?

The answer from conventional wisdom is, Lots. Coal appears to be the

TransCanada plans direct oil line to Gulf Coast

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Feb. 25 -- TransCanada Corp. said it is considering an oil pipeline directly to the US Gulf Coast from Alberta's oil sands, press reports said Feb. 21.

An alternative would be to connect Alberta oil sands with Gulf Coast refineries by converting underused natural gas pipelines for part of the route, Chief Executive Officer Hal Kvisle was reported as saying.

Pipeline approvals ease strain on network
NORVAL SCOTT
Globe and Mail Update

February 24, 2008 at 10:39 PM EST

CALGARY — Pipeline companies are set to build the projects needed to transport higher levels of crude production from Alberta's oil sands, resolving the question of how energy firms will bring their future output to market.

Last week, the National Energy Board – Canada's energy regulator – approved two projects being proposed by Calgary-based Enbridge Inc., including its giant Alberta Clipper pipeline that would allow increased exports to Wisconsin.

Clip:

"Are we going to see [U.S.] troops on our soil for minor potential threats
to a pipeline or a road?" he asked.

Good question, but what's our collective answer?
--M

Vancouver Sun February 23, 2008

Canada-U.S. pact allows cross-border military activity

Deal allows either country to send troops across the other's border to deal
with an emergency

David Pugliese

Canada and the U.S. have signed an agreement that paves the way for the
militaries from either nation to send troops across each other's borders

Nature

Nature 451, 866 (21 February 2008) | doi:10.1038/451866a; Published online 20 February 2008

Science in retreat
Canada has been scientifically healthy.
Not so its government.
Comparisons of nations’ scientific outputs over the years have
shown that Canada’s researchers have plenty to be proud of,
consistently maintaining their country’s position among the
world’s top ten (see, for example, Nature 430, 311–316; 2004). Alas,
their government’s track record is dismal by comparison.
When the Canadian government announced earlier this year that it

Oil Price Closed Above $100 a Barrel; World Leaders Ignore this Signal of Impending Shortages

Press release, The Oil Drum

The price for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil closed above $100 for the first time on February 19, 2008. "Rising oil prices have been giving a clear signal of pending shortages for over five years now," according to TheOilDrum.com. By ignoring this signal, world leaders are steering the world toward an energy disaster characterized by shortages, high energy prices, inflation, civil unrest and famine.

Meetings set in 3 cities on oil shale, tar sands
Feb. 16, 2008 12:09 a.m. MST

Public meetings have been scheduled in three Utah cities to discuss development of the state's oil shale and tar sands resources. The shale and sands resources fall within the jurisdictions of the Moab, Monticello, Price, Richfield and Vernal BLM field offices.

The Bureau of Land Management has set up the following informal meetings:

Big oil's enemy within
The ultimate threat to big oil comes not from green campaigners - but its own shareholders
February 20, 2008 12:15 AM

Tony Hayward
New BP boss Tony Hayward has overseen a reversal of policy towards tar sands.

Business leaders are now pleading with governments for regulation. When did that last happen? Executives usually hate anything that interferes with their freedom of movement. But climate change appears to have changed all that.

Saying Goodbye To The Oil Age
by Peter Goodchild
Countercurrents.org (January 29 2008)

The first practical oil drill was developed in Titusville, Pennsylvania,
in 1859, by Edwin L Drake. Now, only a short while later, the planet
Earth is running out of oil, without which almost nothing in modern
civilization can function. A number of scientists and engineers have
pointed out that the world's oil production will peak early in the
twenty-first century; it has probably already done so. At the beginning
of the century, the human race was using about thirty billion barrels of