Social Impacts

Ottawa and Alta First Nation sign agreement-in-principle on $300M land claim
Fri Oct 12, 5:42 PM

By The Canadian Press

WABASCA, Alta. - Alberta's Bigstone Cree have signed an agreement-in-principle with the provincial and federal governments that would entitle the First Nation to almost $300 million and almost 570 square kilometres of land.

The Bigstone are calling it the largest land-claim settlement in Alberta and one of the largest in Canada.

The agreement means all sides will work to finalize the settlement, which stems from a treaty signed in the late 1800s.

Everyone’s Downstream: Tar Sands Realities and Resistance
Conference to be held at:
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
November 24-25th, 2007
http://oilsandstruth.org

I must comment on this-- This corporation is the one that is trying to re-shape human rights, migrant and labour rights law and is leading the way in getting the flood gates opened for massive amounts of "temporary foreign worker" programs. They have been operating in their "Horizon Oilsands Project" with 500 no-rights, no papers labourers. These workers are the ultimate in cost saving, and CNRL, apparently while making people "learn while they go on the job", have killed 2 in accidents and wounded four others, all from China. If this doesn't save them enough money, then nothing will.

Climate will alter travel patterns: UN
Published: Saturday, October 06, 2007

DAVOS, Switzerland -- Global warming will produce stay-at-home tourists over the next few decades, radically altering travel patterns and threatening jobs and businesses in tourism-dependent countries, according to a stark assessment by UN experts.

The UN Environment Program, the World Meteorological Organization and the World Tourism Organization said concerns about weather extremes and calls to reduce emissions-heavy air travel would make long-haul flights less attractive.

Greenhouse gas emissions hit danger mark
Tue Oct 9, 2007 9:05am EDT
By Michael Perry

SYDNEY (Reuters) - The global economic boom has accelerated greenhouse gas emissions to a dangerous threshold not expected for a decade and could potentially cause irreversible climate change, said one of Australia's leading scientists.

Tim Flannery, a world recognized climate change scientist and Australian of the Year in 2007, said a U.N. international climate change report due in November will show that greenhouse gases have already reached a dangerous level.

ENERGY REGULATOR
Nuclear watchdog too close to industry, report suggests
SUE BAILEY AND JIM BRONSKILL
The Canadian Press
October 9, 2007

OTTAWA -- Canada's nuclear safety watchdog appears to be too cozy with the industry it's supposed to monitor, suggests an independent report.

The study ordered by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission cites long-standing complaints that the regulator focuses far more on the companies it licenses than on concerned lobby groups or citizens.

Fargo mayor: Don't allow Canadian oil pipeline
Oct 07, 2007
By DALE WETZEL
Associated Press Writer

Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker says the huge new Keystone oil pipeline is a potential threat to his city's water supply, and he's asking the state Public Service Commission to deny a permit for the project.

Walaker suggested Friday that the pipeline's route should be forced outside North Dakota until Canadian officials halt what he considers to be unreasonable opposition to a project that would bring Missouri River water to Fargo.

Forget Your Silver Bullet
Bill Moore, EV World
US Task Force finds unconventional fuels from tar sands to shale oil will make little contribution to future energy needs.
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The United States' Task Force on Strategic Unconventional Fuels (www.unconventionalfuels.org) has made public its findings and recommendations on the futARTHUR MAX, AssocARTHUR MAX, Associated Pressated Pressbe played by five non-petroleum energy sources found in America: shale oil, heavy crude, tar sands, coal-to-liquids and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) using captured carbon dioxide.

Inuit across Canada's Arctic are worried about global warming
Friday, September 28, 2007 07:17AM
CBC Labrador

CINDY WALL: Inuit across Canada's Arctic are worried about global warming but the effort to help solve the problem is giving them something else to worry about. Efforts to find alternative cleaner energy sources have driven up the price of uranium, the fuel used in nuclear reactors. Developers want to build new uranium mines on Inuit land in Labrador. As Reporter Paul Pigott reports, some people in Labrador wonder if they won't be trading off one problem for another.

Refinery touted to boost Peace oilsands
Proposed bitumen-processing plant would make development worthwhile, says company
Gordon Jaremko, edmontonjournal.com
Published: 11:56 am

EDMONTON - A proposed $2.5-billion refinery in northwestern Alberta will kick-start development in the largely overlooked oilsands around Peace River, the project's sponsor predicts.

The plant will fill in a missing economic link by creating a large new market for bitumen, said Gary Brierley, chief operating officer and a partner in privately owned Bluesky Refining Inc.