Oil Sands Truth: Shut Down the Tar Sands

Social Impacts

Social Impacts. Overnight injections of migrant workers will not build healthy communities and can have severely adverse impacts on existing communities, especially those of indigenous nations on their traditional lands. Such development brings vices and long term displacement too often. Drugs, alcohol and associated violence spreads. Hunting becomes difficult when the land is threatened, leading to a further loss of culture and tradition. In towns like Fort McMurray there is no planning for the future, but merely consumption in the present. However transient the individuals may be, the populations will not leave, as “development” takes on a logic all its own. All levels of run away development are subordinate to that development, not social need.

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NEB Head calls Hearings into MGP "Success"

NEB head pleased with process
DAVID EBNER // October 1, 2007

CALGARY -- The epic regulatory review of the Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline has been a success in terms of collecting and assessing the many views on the controversial project, according to the new chairman of the National Energy Board.

"I feel we've done a superb job listening to everybody, carefully," said Gaétan Caron, in his first formal interview. "We haven't cut any corners. We've taken into account all the views people have about the project and we will finish the task of hearing the evidence in October."

Dollar drops faster than Oil Prices Rise; Record Prices only Skin Deep

Energy Roundup: Oil Prices Gain
Oil Prices Top $83, Sunny Day for Solar Shares, GE Building a Plant in Vietnam
September 28, 2007: 01:09 PM EST

NEW YORK (Associated Press) - The following is a summary of top stories in the energy sector at midday Friday.

Oil Heads for Record Territory Again

Oil futures climbed past $83 a barrel, as the steadily weakening dollar continued to draw buyers into commodity markets.

"Prentice awaits input over aid for Mackenzie"

Prentice awaits input over aid for Mackenzie
'It's really in the hands of the proponents,' Industry Minister says
DAVID EBNER AND NORVAL SCOTT
September 22, 2007

BANFF AND CALGARY -- Imperial Oil Ltd. still hasn't restarted negotiations with Ottawa over potential federal aid for the beleaguered $16-billion Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline project.

"We are awaiting a response from industry," Jim Prentice, federal Industry Minister, said in an interview in Banff Thursday night before his first major speech in his new job.

Greenpeace wraps up Action Camp

Greenpeace wraps up Action Camp
By CARY CASTAGNA, SUN MEDIA

It's been nearly two months since Greenpeace set up shop in Edmonton with the lofty goal of shutting down Alberta's oilsands, but don't expect to see any high-profile demonstrations anytime soon, says a local member of the international environmental group.

"We haven't made any concrete plans to chain ourselves to trees," said a chuckling Geeta Sehgal, one of two campaign organizers working out of the Greenpeace office at Calgary Trail and Argyll Road.

As race for oil-rich Arctic heats up, Inuit stake their claim, too

As race for oil-rich Arctic heats up, Inuit stake their claim, too
Indigenous to the region, the Inuit want a 'meaningful voice' in the territory dispute.

By Colin Woodard | The Christian Science Monitor / from the September 25, 2007

Energy Corporations on offensive against Alberta royalty report

Energy Corporations on offensive against Alberta royalty report
Last Updated: Monday, September 24, 2007 | 6:01 PM MT
CBC News

Oil and gas producers, angry with a government report that recommends hiking the royalties they pay, shot back Monday warning higher royalty rates will be a major blow to Alberta's energy sector.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, which represents major companies in the industry, says last week's report is flawed.

Conservation, not pipeline, gaining N.W.T. support

Conservation, not pipeline, gaining N.W.T. support: poll
Last Updated: Monday, September 24, 2007 | 5:43 PM CT
CBC News

Support among residents of the Northwest Territories is waning for the proposed Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline, while interest in conservation is rising, according to the results of a poll released Monday.

The poll, conducted by McAllister Opinion Research, says backing for the pipeline is at 68 per cent, which is down six per cent from its last poll in 2004.

Hundreds march in Edmonton to protest labour laws

Hundreds march in Edmonton to protest labour laws
Canadian Press
September 22, 2007 at 10:21 PM EDT

EDMONTON — Hundreds of angry and loud tradespeople have laid Alberta's labour code to rest in a dramatic mock funeral.

Protest organizer Eric Klyne led the funeral procession to the legislature Saturday, flanked by men dressed as the grim reaper and a priest.

The demonstration capped off two weeks of labour unrest that began following an Alberta Labour Relations Board ruling that forbid the carpenters union from going on strike.

Grandma vs. the Tar Pit Mine

Grandma vs. the Oil-Sands Mine
By Kevin Graham
E/The Environmental Magazine
September/October, 2007

Eighty-five-year-old grandmothers aren’t typically subject to
censorship, but Liz Moore is no ordinary grandma. After touring an
oil-sands operation in Canada, Moore returned to her home in Colorado
and began researching the mining process. Eventually, she spent
$3,600 on a website that chronicles the destructive environmental
impacts of oil-sands mining.
“I was appalled at what I saw—the devastation of the land,” she says

Tuning in to the North, review of "Late Nights on Air"

Tuning in to the North
Review by MARIAN BOTSFORD FRASER
September 22, 2007
"Late Nights on Air"
By Elizabeth Hay // McClelland & Stewart // 364 pages, $32.99