Tar Sands 101
The Tar Sands "Gigaproject" is the largest industrial project in human history and likely also the most destructive. The tar sands mining procedure releases at least three times the CO2 emissions as regular oil production and is slated to become the single largest industrial contributor in North America to Climate Change.
The tar sands are already slated to be the cause of up to the second fastest rate of deforestation on the planet behind the Amazon Rainforest Basin. Currently approved projects will see 3 million barrels of tar sands mock crude produced daily by 2018; for each barrel of oil up to as high as five barrels of water are used.
Human health in many communities has seriously taken a turn for the worse with many causes alleged to be from tar sands production. Tar sands production has led to many serious social issues throughout Alberta, from housing crises to the vast expansion of temporary foreign worker programs that racialize and exploit so-called non-citizens. Infrastructure from pipelines to refineries to super tanker oil traffic on the seas crosses the continent in all directions to allthree major oceans and the Gulf of Mexico.
The mock oil produced primarily is consumed in the United States and helps to subsidize continued wars of aggression against other oil producing nations such as Iraq, Venezuela and Iran.
To understand the tar sands in more depth, continue to our Tar Sands 101 reading list
Alberta Health Board Fires Doctor Who Raised Cancer Alarms (John O'Connor)
Alberta Health Board Fires Doctor Who Raised Cancer Alarms
'I am stunned,' says Dr. John O'Connor, a veteran presence in First Nations community.
By Andrew Nikiforuk, 11 May 2015, TheTyee.ca
An Alberta health board has fired Dr. John O'Connor, the physician who came to national prominence after raising questions about rare cancers in the tarsands region.
The Nunee Health Board Society send O'Connor a letter last Friday saying it no longer required his professional services.
Koch brothers go deep in Alberta tar sands
Koch brothers go deep in Alberta tar sands
Few people know how central this country's oil riches have been to the U.S. Big Oil billionaires' vast fortune. Most of their tar sands holdings remain untouched, but that may soon change.
by Bruce Livesey for NationalObserver.com
May 6, 2015
Fort McKay, Alberta, a hamlet of 700 citizens, hugs the Athabasca River a half-hour's drive north of Fort McMurray. It's home to the Fort McKay First Nation band.
Harper government alters climate targets; protects tar sands
Harper government alters climate targets, but protects oil sands
By Mychaylo Prystupa | May 15th 2015
National Observer
The Harper government is pledging to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, but in a way that does not affect the oil sands emissions - the largest source of Canada's climate warming pollution, say environmental critics.
Oil Spill on Beaches of World’s ‘Greenest City’
Bunker (Fuel) Down
Oil Spill on Beaches of World’s ‘Greenest City’
by MACDONALD STAINSBY
Vancouver, British Columbia, Coast Salish Territories
Weekend edition, April 10-12, 2015
Cutting the crud: Debunking five Big Oil myths
Cutting the crud: Debunking five Big Oil myths
By Steve Cornwell
| March 12, 2015
The Harper government and Big Oil have been spouting some colourful myths about how vital the tar sands industry is for Canada. The jobs! The money! The environment!
Can't we just cut the crud and get down to the dirty truths? Why yes we can.
Let's debunk the five biggest myths about the tar sands.
Myth #1: The tar sands industry is great for Canada -- look at all those jobs it creates!
Canada Losing $30+ Bn a Year on Tar-Sands Oil
Consider the right wing source and revel in the take down of Stephen Harper.
--M
Canada Losing $30+ Bn a Year on Tar-Sands Oil
April 8, 2015
By Sprott Money
Oil is our most-precious commodity as fuel for the global economy. It is also becoming a scarce commodity, as global production has flattened, while global demand continues to climb relentlessly, everywhere in the world except for the dying economies of Europe and North America. It is a classic “seller’s market.”
Environmental groups take aim at Alberta tar sands emissions
Environmental groups take aim at Alberta oil sands emissions
SHAWN McCARTHY
OTTAWA — The Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Apr. 09 2015
Rising greenhouse emissions from Alberta’s oil sands would swamp Ontario’s effort to fight climate change through a carbon-pricing plan, says a report issued in advance of the provincial climate summit to be held in Quebec City next week.
Here are the other tar-sands pipelines Canada is trying to build
Here are the other tar-sands pipelines Canada is trying to build
By Bobby Magill on 31 Mar 2015
Climate Central
A decision on whether to allow the Keystone XL pipeline to be built in the U.S. could come at any time, but there are myriad other projects on the table designed to do exactly what Keystone XL was designed to do: transport Canadian tar-sands oil to refineries.
(Wisconsin) Enbridge Opponents Call for Support
Pipeline opponents urge support
More than 200 area people turned out in Lake Mills March 19 for an educational forum on Enbridge Energy’s project to increase the flow of tar sands oil through a pipeline that runs through Dane, Jefferson, Rock and Walworth counties.
Posted: Wednesday, March 25, 2015
By Randy Radtke Special to The Courier |
Opponents of Enbridge Inc.’s expansion of Pipeline 61 began a concerted organizational effort to rally public support to their cause with an educational forum in Lake Mills March 19.
Grassroots Dene people defending the land in northern Saskatchewan
Grassroots Dene people defending the land in northern Saskatchewan
By Scott Neigh
| March 25, 2015
On this week's episode of Talking Radical Radio, I speak with Don Montgrand and Candyce Paul. They are grassroots Dene people living in northern Saskatchewan, and they talk with me about the Northern Dene Trappers Alliance and its efforts to defend the land and to defend the Dene people in the face of companies and governments pushing predatory resource extraction.
