Social Impacts

The war about what to do about the tar sands oil is well under way, and the article below is the kind of propaganda we should get used to about how much the US needs the tar sands product. In the case of the Michigan area, it should be noted that the expanding refinery capacity would include dumping into the Great Lakes. All of it increases the destruction in Northern Alberta. So these arguments are purely based (below) on a "so lifestyle and consumption patterns don't change" line of thinking.

--M

Don't let tar sand oil slip away

BY MARK J. PERRY • March 31, 2008

Canada rushes for its black gold

Released on 27/03/2008

[B]lack gloop is behind a massive boom that is pushing Canada’s construction spend to record heights and sucking skilled workers from all over the country and the world.

Before 2003 Fort McMurray was a quiet town just about as far north in the Canadian province of Alberta as you’d wish to go. Now it’s the epicenter of a building boom that is pushing the whole country’s construction spend to record heights, and a trailer there costs more than a house in downtown Toronto.

Shell wants to produce five times more oil from tar sands

* Terry Macalister
* The Guardian,
* Tuesday March 18 2008
This article appeared in the Guardian on Tuesday March 18 2008 on p32 of the Financial section. It was last updated at 00:49 on March 18 2008.

Shell is gearing up for a huge expansion of its carbon-intensive tar sands operation in Canada at a time when it has been struggling to replace conventional reserves.

Tar sands: environmental justice and Native rights

"The river used to be blue. Now it's brown. Nobody can fish or drink from it. The air is bad. This has all happened so fast."

by Clayton Thomas-Müller
March 25, 2008

The application of treaty rights as a legal strategy implemented by the First Nations themselves must be the key focus in efforts to challenge Big Oil in Alberta.

EnCana Project Reaps, Refines 'Tar Sands' Oil
March 26, 2008: 08:05 PM EST (Investor's Business Daily delivered by Newstex) --

On Wednesday we examined how well Canada stands as investors unlock their bank accounts and jump back into stocks. Much of the fortunes up north may depend on commodity prices.

Taking a look at Canada's recent winners, we see lots of natural resources companies, such as oil and gas, gold and silver, base metals, and wheat.

Prices for these raw goods recently plunged after major run-ups, so passing on a gold mine or an oil driller may have been smart.

The people of Hartley Bay feel a bit more uneasy today
Jack Knox, canwest news services
Published: Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Six metres of snow in Hartley Bay so far this winter.

Usually it snows, then melts, then rains in a pattern that repeats all season long, but this year it just kept snowing and snowing until it piled high above the raised boardwalks that take the place of roads in the tiny coastal settlement.

Bateman smears famous work to protest pipeline

Video (at link at bottom): Bateman paints over painting in protest
Symbolic smearing meant to demonstrate hazards of spills
Mar 21, 2008 04:30 AM
Petti Fong
Western Canada Bureau Chief

VANCOUVER–Paintbrush in hand, poised over the canvas of orcas swimming in the ocean, wildlife artist Robert Bateman had a momentary feeling of uncertainty.

But when the black paint touched a $2,000 print of his famous painting, Orca Procession, Bateman knew defacing one of his most beloved images was the right thing to do.

Government is listening to polluters
Mar 24, 2008 04:30 AM
John Bennett

Federal Environment Minister John Baird claims new regulations announced this month for industry greenhouse gas emitters are "tough – tougher than any anywhere."

So why aren't environmentalists standing up and cheering?

Only a few years ago Stephen Harper called Kyoto "a socialist plot" – but now his government is calling for future oil-sands operations to capture and store the greenhouse gases they create. The Conservative government sure has come a long way, hasn't it? Well no, it hasn't.

Bush Administration's Rush to Develop Oil Shale and Tar Sands Endangers Local communities and Wild Lands in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming
26 Conservation, Citizen, Local Government and Recreation Groups Denounce Lease Plan That Could Affect 2 Million Acres of Public Lands

Climate Change Deepening World Water Crisis
by Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS - When U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last January, his primary focus was not on the impending global economic recession but on the world’s growing water crisis.0320 08

“A shortage of water resources could spell increased conflicts in the future,” he told the annual gathering of business tycoons, academics and leaders from governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations.