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
Jordan to Rely on Shale Oil to Meet Soaring Domestic Demand
Jordan to Rely on Shale Oil to Meet Soaring Domestic Demand
7 August 2012—Jordan aims to extract 40,000 BOPD of oil from its shale oil reserves by 2016 to meet the country’s increasing demand, Jordan Oil Shale Energy Company (JOSECO) said.
JOSECO is a subsidiary of Estonian state-owned Eesti Energia.
Nunavut sees devolution light after long Arctic winter
Nunavut sees devolution light after long Arctic winter
Yadullah Hussain | Jul 20, 2012
Financial Post
Nunavut would like nothing more than be the master of its own destiny and has begun negotiations with the federal government to transfer land rights and royalties as it seeks to explore its fossil fuel riches, says Peter Taptuna, Nunavut’s Minister of Economic Development and Transportation. Excerpts from the interview:
Q The Arctic has become a focus area for many jurisdictions. Has Nunavut also noticed a surge in interest in its petroleum resources?
Unistoten Action Camp
Unistoten Action Camp
by Noah Ross
Media Coop, August 8, 2012
Beginning on August 5th, the Unistoten, a clan of the Wet'suwet'en Nation, have established a checkpoint located on the bridge over the Morice River.
The checkpoint is in the path of the proposed Pacific Trails Pipeline south of Smithers in Northern British Columbia. It is being implemented in conjunction with the 3rd annual Unistoten Action Camp, which has attracted over 150 participants and is intended to build support for resistance to the Pacific Trails Pipeline.
Tensions Boil as Israeli Oil Riches Grow
Tensions Boil as Israeli Oil Riches Grow
News From Around the World
Monday, June 25, 2012
Ed DeShields
Israel’s once hidden oil riches are now certain to be so large its treasures could make it the richest oil country in the world. And, its neighbors are not only noticing, they’re boiling mad.
It was just forty years ago when Golda Meir, the former prime minister of Israel once famously quipped, “Why did Moses lead us to the one place in the Middle East without oil?”
Well Prime Minister, Moses turned out to have a pretty good eye for what a promised land might look like.
Alberta Premier Says No Money For BC
Alberta Premier Says No Money For BC
By Ben Meisner
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Alberta Premier Redford has made it clear, once again, that her government is not prepared to hand over any royalties to the province of BC for the movement of oil from the tar sands for shipment offshore.
Redford made the comments yesterday in Vancouver. At the same time she suggested that there is little point in her meeting with Christy Clark, her BC counterpart, to discuss the issue further.
B.C. newspaper tycoon proposing $13-billion oil refinery for Northern Gateway oil
B.C. newspaper tycoon proposing $13-billion oil refinery for Northern Gateway oil
By GORDON HOEKSTRA,
VANCOUVER SUN
August 17, 2012
VANCOUVER - B.C. community newspaper tycoon David Black proposed today building a $13-billion oil refinery near Kitimat to use all of the crude from Enbridge's controversial Northern Gateway pipeline.
It would mean tankers would ship refined fuels like gasoline off of B.C. northwest coast, not heavy oil from Alberta, reducing environmental risks, says Black.
A refinery also promises 10 times as many jobs as an export pipeline.
Kazakhstan will squeeze oil from sand and clay
Kazakhstan will squeeze oil from sand and clay
Sunday, 08.07.2012
Tengri News
Kazakhstan wants to start extracting oil from sand in 2013, deputy Director of the Scientific-Research Institute of New Chemical Technologies and Materials of Al-Farabi Kazakh State University Valentina Yemelyanova told Tengrinews.kz.
Tar Sands Giants’ Sneaky New Playbook Revealed [Re: Trailbreaker]
Tar Sands Giants’ Sneaky New Playbook Revealed
By Climate Guest Blogger on Jul 7, 2012 at 10:46 am
by Tony Iallonardo, via National Wildlife Federation
Polluters seem to have drawn the wrong lesson from the Keystone XL controversy. Rather than temper the headlong rush to exploit tar sands, they’re getting sneakier.
Another First Nations community says no to [Gateway] pipeline
Another First Nations community says no to [Gateway] pipeline
QMI Agency
Toronto Sun
First posted: Sunday, July 08, 2012
A B.C.-based First Nations community has added its name to the list of opponents of the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline.
Following a ceremony Saturday, the Tsleil-Waututh Nation signed the Save the Fraser Declaration, an indigenous law ban on tar sands pipelines through First Nations traditional territories.
Opec’s gift to tar sands producers: high oil prices
Opec’s gift to oil sands producers: high oil prices
Financial Post
Yadullah Hussain Jul 6, 2012
Canadian oil sands producers battling high development costs are getting help from an unlikely quarter: Saudi Arabia and its OPEC allies.
“OPEC’s pursuit of higher prices has underpinned the growth of non-OPEC producers,” says Julian Lee, senior energy analyst at U.K.-based Centre for Global Energy Studies. “Non-OPEC developers should be extremely grateful for OPEC for keeping the price of oil high and making all the exotic and expensive sources of oil economically viable.”
