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.
The tar sands pipeline and Obama’s carbon commitments
August 11, 2009
by Sheila McNulty
The Obama Administration has made a big show about its desire to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
But actions speak louder than words.
Environmentalists want to see the Administration underline its commitment to reduce carbon by rejecting a permit for a pipeline carrying fuel for Canada’s carbon-intensive oil sands into the US.
Canada's dirty oil may disrupt Obama's clean energy plans
August 10
John Guerrerio
Trading our dependence upon 'bloody oil' for 'dirty oil' does not solve the problem.
Catastrophic shortfalls threaten economic recovery, says world's top
energy economist
by Steve Connor, Science Editor
The Independent (August 03 2009)
The world is heading for a catastrophic energy crunch that could cripple a
global economic recovery because most of the major oil fields in the world
have passed their peak production, a leading energy economist has warned.
Higher oil prices brought on by a rapid increase in demand and a
stagnation, or even decline, in supply could blow any recovery off course,
B.C. launches major stimulus program for oil and gas
By Shaun Polczer, Calgary Herald
August 6, 2009
CALGARY - The British Columbia government this morning announced a major stimulus program to kick-start its oil and gas industry, including a package of royalty incentives and legislative changes.
In a statement, the government said the program is designed to produce "immediate economic benefits" for the province.
Canadians want oil sands production cut
Survey respondents also want to see provinces – not just Ottawa – at coming climate-change talks in Copenhagen
Brian Laghi
Globe and Mail
Aug. 03, 2009
Provincial premiers will meet in Regina this week amid new poll results that show a majority of Canadians think oil sands production should be cut as Canada grapples with reducing greenhouse gases.
Global Peak Oil In 10 Years - IEA Sounds Alarm
by Energy Matters bookmark or share this page follow us on twitter
Global peak oil rapidly approaching
In an interview with the UK's The Independent, Dr Fatih Birol, the chief economist at the International Energy Agency (IEA), sounded an alarm that global oil production is likely to peak in around 10 years; far earlier than most governments had foreseen. The International Energy Agency is an intergovernmental organisation which acts as energy policy advisor to 28 member countries, including Australia.
Tar Sands Protesters Hang Banner at RBC’s Toronto Headquarters
By Sean B. Pasternak and Doug Alexander
July 28 (Bloomberg) -- Protesters hung a 15-foot-long banner at the Toronto headquarters of Royal Bank of Canada, asking the wife of Chief Executive Officer Gordon Nixon to help end the bank’s involvement in funding tar sands projects.
Palin's Pipeline: Clean Energy for the Lower 48 or Power for the Tar Sands?
by Abby Schultz - Jun 29th, 2009
Where the natural gas from the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline will end up is a murky question tied up in a 30-year-old treaty, expansion of Canadian tar sands operations, and trends in natural gas supplies both in the United States and in Canada.
Irving Oil and BP Will Not Proceed With Proposed Second Refinery
Release date: 24 July 2009
BP and Irving Oil announced today they will not be moving forward at this time with the proposed second refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick, as a result of global economic and industry conditions
The joint technical and commercial feasibility study that the two companies have been conducting over the last 18 months concluded that the project was not viable at a time of global economic recession and dampening forecasts for petroleum product demand in North America.
This is a HUGE deal; as a result of the largest single tar sands operator expanding the amount of procesing done in the US, the number-- according to the FTA and NAFTA-- can NEVER GO BACK DOWN in terms of percentage, or "proportion".
This is where the "proportionality clause" kicks in; the amount of an energy source sent south in one day must stay at that proportion permanently.
Therefore this is the announcement that the state of Canada is now further beholden to the US state, never mind what happens to the indigenous nations as a direct result.
--M
