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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Tibetan Glaciers Are Retreating

Tibetan Glaciers Are Retreating
At An Alarming Rate

By James Hansen
20 December, 2009

Giss.nasa.gov

Glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau, sometimes called Earth's "third pole", hold the largest ice mass outside the polar regions. These glaciers act as a water storage tower for South and East Asia, releasing melt water in warm months to the Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra and other river systems, providing fresh water to more than a billion people. In the dry season glacial melt provides half or more of the water in many rivers.

"TransCanada weathers the storm." [MGP]

TransCanada weathers the storm.
Calgary Herald
Thursday, December 24th, 2009
Canwest News Service

CALGARY – TransCanada Corp. managed to weather the downturn surprisingly well.

After an uncertain start to 2009, the Calgary-based pipeline company, which operates Canada's largest natural-gas network, managed to advance its suite of growth projects despite the financial crisis and the recession.

County commission votes to oppose Keystone Pipeline

County commission votes to oppose pipeline

By PAIGE CARSWELL
Published: Wednesday, December 23, 2009 1:39 PM CST
Cowley County commissioners passed a resolution during their Tuesday morning meeting in support of denying a property tax exemption to TransCanada Keystone Pipeline.

The resolution states several reasons the exemption should not be granted, including that businesses operating within the lines of a county should “pay their fair share” and that the pipeline has not been given a tax exemption in any other state.

Lawyers, not engineers, to dominate work on carbon storage in 2010

[Pembina endorses the concept of carbon capture and sequestration at the end]

By Bob Weber (CP)
December 26 2009

EDMONTON — Before you start putting carbon in the ground, you first have to put lawyers in a room.

After a year that saw billions of dollars in public funds sprayed around a variety of carbon capture and storage pilot projects, the focus in 2010 will shift from splashy press conferences to quiet boardrooms where officials will work out exactly how all that money will be spent.

Statoil Committed To Canada's Tar Sands

December 23, 2009
Statoil Committed To Canada's Oilsands

By: Lynda Harrison

Statoil Canada Ltd. has a new Canadian president who says this country's oilsands represent a key part of the company's global strategy and his company is committed to developing them in a manner that balances social, economic and environmental concerns.

Alberta tar sands comeback predicted to fuel economic growth

Alberta oilsands comeback predicted to fuel economic growth

By MARKUS ERMISCH, QMI AGENCY
Last Updated: 24th December 2009

Following a sharp economic contraction this year, Alberta's economy is forecast to be one of Canada's fastest growing provinces in 2010.

Scotiabank economist Alex Koustas predicts that in 2010, the energy province's GDP will grow by 2.9% after shrinking 2.6% this year.

Only B.C., at 3%, is forecast to grow at a faster rate.

Copenhagen: Obama Guts Progressive Values

— By Bill McKibben
| Fri Dec. 18, 2009

The President of the United States did several things in his agreement today with China, India, and South Africa:

Copenhagen ends in failure

"The city of Copenhagen is a crime scene tonight, with the guilty men and women fleeing to the airport." Don't feel too dirty partyers. Be sure to buy indulgences and see you when you fly in to the party at Whistler

Low targets, goals dropped: Copenhagen ends in failure

Deal thrashed out at talks damned as climate change denial in action
* http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/18/copenhagen-deal
* John Vidal, Jonathan Watts and Suzanne Goldenberg in Copenhagen
* guardian.co.uk, Saturday 19 December 2009 00.47 GMT

The Moment of Truth

* The Moment Of Truth*
*By Fidel Castro*

18 December, 2009

The news from the Danish capital gives a picture of chaos. After planning a conference with about 40 thousand people in attendance, the hosts find it impossible to honor their promise. Evo, the first of the two presidents of ALBA-member countries to arrive, stated some truths derived from the millennium-old culture of his people.

Tories mulled weaker oil-gas emission targets: documents

Tories mulled weaker oil-gas emission targets: documents
last Updated: Monday, December 14, 2009
CBC News

The Conservative government has considered abandoning some of the greenhouse gas reduction goals set out in its 2007 green plan and allowing weaker targets for the oil and gas sector, documents obtained by CBC News suggest.

The proposal raises questions on how the Tories could cut overall greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by 2020 — a target they insist they can reach — while weakening the targets in the oil and gas sector.