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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German Government Rejects German Military Report ‘Peak Oil’ Occurred in 2010

German Government Rejects Report ‘Peak Oil’ Occurred in 2010
By Rainer Buergin - Jan 24, 2011

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government rejected a report by Germany’s armed forces that global crude-oil production reached its maximum last year, parliament’s HIB newsletter said.

Crude output “can be increased through 2035 under today’s conditions, assuming an optimal development and exploitation of reserves,” HIB said today, citing the government’s response to a query by the opposition Green party. The government’s outlook is based on International Energy Agency estimates, it said.

Education, action forum set on [Keystone XL] pipeline [Nebraska]

Education, action forum set on pipeline

By the Lincoln Journal Star JournalStar.com |
Thursday, January 27, 2011

Pipeline expert Paul Blackburn of Plains Justice and author Mary Pipher will speak Saturday at an education and action forum about the proposed TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline.

A panel will present information on the pipeline, followed by a Q&A with attendees. The forum will run from 10-11:30 a.m. at First United Methodist Church, 2723 N. 50th St., and will wrap up with a grassroots activism training and launch of a new action guide, according to a news release.

Groups ask Upton to remember the Enbridge oil spill [Kalamazoo River]

Groups ask Upton to remember the Enbridge oil spill
Upton promises work on pipeline safety legislation
By Eartha Jane Melzer | 01.26.11

When Enbridge’s Lakehead 6B pipeline spilled a million gallons of tar sands crude into the river that runs through the heart of Rep. Fred Upton’s (R-St. Joseph) district last year, the congressman pledged aggressive action to protect the Great Lakes ecosystem.

Harper’s embrace of ‘ethical’ tar sands reignites 'dirty' arguments

Harper’s embrace of ‘ethical’ oil sands reignites 'dirty' arguments
STEVEN CHASE
OTTAWA— From Saturday's Globe and Mail (January 08, 2011)

Stephen Harper is embracing the notion that Canada’s controversial oil sands are an “ethical” source of energy, strengthening his support of the maligned resource and kicking off a new chapter in the debate over what critics call “dirty oil.”

The Prime Minister told reporters Friday that his government wants to “explain to the world” that petroleum from Western Canada’s oil sands is superior in respects to crude from other countries.

Damaged CNRL upgrader to resume production soon

Damaged oil sands upgrader to resume production soon
January 11, 2011 | 08:21
Frank Landry | QMI Agency

EDMONTON - An oilsands upgrader damaged by fire last week could resume production at half-capacity sooner than expected, says Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL).

But that will depend on whether the province gives the go-ahead.

The company said it is working with Occupational Health and Safety to determine what went wrong at the site, about 75 km north of Fort McMurray.

Madagascar Oil tax in dispute before float

Rowena Mason
UK Telegraph 04 Jan 2011

Last month the Madagascar government announced that it planned to seize the oil group’s licences forcing Madagascar Oil to suspend trading in its shares just three weeks after the company floated on AIM.

The suspension was another blow to the reputation of the AIM market, coming just weeks after fellow oil minnow Desire Petroleum claimed to have found oil, only to admit days later that it was only water.

Devastation, Madagascar

France's Total and US based Madagascar Oil tangle with military governments to push tar sands projects forward

Macdonald Stainsby

December 27, 2010
Mediacoop.ca

Weaknesses monitoring tar sands pollution must be corrected, report says

Weaknesses monitoring oilsands pollution must be corrected, report says

By Mike De Souza, Postmedia News
December 21, 2010

OTTAWA — There are "significant" weaknesses in monitoring pollution from Alberta's oilsands sector that must be corrected, a scientific panel concluded in a report released Tuesday.

The findings were submitted to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government last week after a two-month analysis that was commissioned by former environment minister Jim Prentice.

Suncor, Total team up on tar sands

What a perfect combination! Now Total can join in a partnership with the Canadian Boreal Initiative and fund the Pembina Institute, while Suncor can help dig up huge swaths of land all over Africa! It's a win, win!

--M

Suncor, Total team up on oil sands
NATHAN VANDERKLIPPE
CALGARY— From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Dec. 17, 2010 6:17AM EST

Pipeline concerns East Texans

Pipeline concerns East Texans
Posted: Dec 15, 2010
By Sara Story, KLTV

WOOD COUNTY, TX (KLTV) - Concerned East Texas land owners are speaking out against the massive pipeline that will pump tar sands oil from Canada to the Gulf Coast. A large portion of the TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline will be laid in East Texas counties. Friday, an environmental organization will meet with members of the community to discuss the pipeline's hazardous impact.

It's a project that worries land owners like Eleanor Fairchild, 79.