Social Impacts

Syncrude worker found dead at Mildred Lake site

Updated: Thu Jan. 01 2009 18:47:13

ctvedmonton.ca

It was a tragic end to 2008 for a Syncrude employee in northern Alberta. The worker was found unconscious at Syncrude's Mildred Lake upgrader at about 10:30 Wednesday morning.

He was discovered on a catwalk in the Hydro Processing area of the upgrader. He was rushed to hospital in Fort McMurray where he was pronounced dead.

Occupational Health and Safety is investigating. A provincial government spokesperson says it appears the employee was struck by a piece of falling ice.

Energy at any cost
Natural-gas pipelines encroach on farms, homes and businesses with government support, with more projects in the works
Wednesday, December 24, 2008 3:08 AM
By Sandy Shore
ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Rockies Express natural-gas pipeline stretches across rural land as it is built near Cheyenne, Wyo. The $4 billion project will have the capacity to move 1.8 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.

DENVER -- In the push toward more U.S. energy independence, massive infrastructure projects that will help deliver it have clashed with land-ownership rights.

WANING of the BOOM
Once the dream factory for 24,000 mobile workers, Fort McMurray's slowdown may be most devastating for the communities across Canada who export them.
GORDON PITTS
December 29, 2008

FORT McMURRAY, ALTA. -- Hungry young tradesmen like Evan Brewer used to be as plentiful on the ground in Fort McMurray as chips at the Boomtown Casino. They'd get off the plane from Atlantic Canada and score big money in the oil sands.

Petro-Canada working on costs
Claudia Cattaneo, Financial Post Published: Friday, December 12, 2008

CALGARY -- Petro-Canada is seeing "a pretty good response" as it re-negotiates deals to bring down costs at its delayed Fort Hills oil sands project, Ron Brenneman, chief executive, said Friday.

"I don't know where it will end up or whether it's enough to make a difference in the overall project economics," but costs are moving down and are becoming more predictable, Mr. Brenneman said in an interview.

Workers vote to end 13-month lockout at Petro-Canada refinery
Last Updated: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 |
CBC News

Workers at a Petro-Canada refinery in Montreal have voted to accept a new collective agreement, a move that will put an end to a 13-month lockout.

Union officials, representing 260 employees, said Tuesday the agreement was accepted by 94.6 per cent of members. Employees will be back at work Jan. 12.

The cold truth about climate change

Deniers continue to insist there's no consensus on global warming. Well,
there's not. There's well-tested science and real-world observations.

By Joseph Romm

Feb. 27, 2008 | The more I write about global warming, the more I realize I
share some things in common with the doubters and deniers who populate the
blogosphere and the conservative movement. Like them, I am dubious about the
process used by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to
write its reports. Like them, I am skeptical of the so-called consensus on

Superior refinery expansion at center of Great Lakes debate
By Dan Egan/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Superior Telegram
Published Friday, December 26, 2008

SUPERIOR — There is indeed a growing awareness of just how precious the Great Lakes are — and will be — in a century in which many are predicting fresh water will become more coveted than oil.

The significance of this can’t be underestimated for a system of linked lakes that hold 20 percent of the world’s fresh surface water and 90 percent of the nation’s.

Superior at center of oil production plans
By Dan Egan/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Superior Telegram
Published Wednesday, December 24, 2008

SUPERIOR — U.S. dependence on foreign oil conjures images of derricks pecking at Saudi Arabian sands or supertankers steaming for coastal refineries.

But here is a more apt icon for our future reliance on other nations’ fossil fuels: fields just south of Lake Superior pocked with gymnasium-sized tanks of oil piped 1,000 miles from tar sands in Alberta — one of the largest proven “unconventional” oil reserves in the world.

Native leaders say climate affecting caribou populations
ALLIANCE: Indigenous groups want to participate in global warming talks.
By ARTHUR MAX
The Associated Press
December 23rd, 2008

POZNAN, Poland -- Chief Bill Erasmus of the Dene nation in northern Canada brought a stark warning about the climate crisis: The once abundant herds of caribou are dwindling, rivers are running lower and the ice is too thin to hunt on.

VANOC may axe Whistler ceremonies
By BOB MACKIN, 24 HOURS, Dec 24, 2008

A Whistler forest may have been cut for naught.

Medals are supposed to be awarded nightly at B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver and the Celebration Plaza next to Whistler Village during the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Vancouver 2010 organizers -- faced with unprecedented recessionary pressure for a North American-held Games -- may cancel the Whistler ceremonies to save money.