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
Canada threatens trade war with EU over tar sands
Canada threatens trade war with EU over tar sands
The row over the EU's plan to label tar sands oil as highly polluting escalates as Canada says it 'will not hesitate to defend its interests'
Damian Carrington
guardian.co.uk, Monday 20 February 2012
Canada has threatened a trade war with European Union over the bloc's plan to label oil from Alberta's vast tar sands as highly polluting, the Guardian can reveal, before a key vote in Brussels on 23 February.
Eastward No! Enviros Warn of Tar Sands Heading to Maine Coast
Eastward No! Enviros Warn of Tar Sands Heading to Maine Coast
- Common Dreams staff
Energy behemoth on the hunt [in Vermont]
Times Argus [Vermont]
Published: February 15, 2012
Letter to the editor
Energy behemoth on the hunt
Enbridge, Ipsos-Reid poll, and disinformation tactics
Enbridge, Ipsos-Reid poll, and disinformation tactics
Opinion 250
By Peter Ewart
Friday, January 06, 2012
One of the aims of disinformation campaigns is to shake the resolve of people. And we are seeing ample evidence of this in the campaign to sell the Enbridge pipeline which, if constructed, will stretch across the lands and waterways of Northern BC and result in major oil tanker traffic in the ocean waters off BC’s Pacific coast.
Big 2011 profits for Cenovus
Big 2011 profits for Cenovus
February 16, 2012 | PEU160212
Cenovus Energy, one of Canada’s largest in situ oil-sands producers, posted 241% higher fourth-quarter profits as a result of higher production and prices. The company, which was spun off from Encana in late 2009, made net profit of C$266 million ($266 million) in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared with $78 million the year before. Production climbed to 144,273 barrels a day (b/d) from 129,593 b/d in the same period in 2010. Net in situ oil-sands output rose by 23%, to 74,596 b/d, from 60,789 b/d in fourth-quarter.
Alberta’s new economic boom
Camp Oil Sands: Alberta’s new economic boom
nathan vanderklippe
CALGARY— From Friday's Globe and Mail
Feb. 09, 2012
The floor of the Atco Ltd. (ACO.X-T62.971.111.79%)manufacturing plant sprawls out across 250,000 square feet of concrete covered with stacks of drywall, boxes of spiced ash mouldings and bags of insulation batting. Next to them is the assembly line, where dozens of 18-metre-long mobile housing units are rapidly taking shape, with workers using overhead cranes to raise completed walls and roofs into place.
Utah tar sands still seeking investors despite questions
Utah tar sands still seeking investors despite questions
By brandon loomis
The Salt Lake Tribune
First published Feb 15 2012
Eastern Utah’s tar sands are just a year or so from producing their first commercial quantities of oil — if environmental appeals are settled and the company planning to mine can attract investors.
Those are big ifs.
Two oil shale mining companies contend they’re right behind and said Wednesday at the Governor’s Energy Development Summit that the state is poised for “the next big play” in energy.
Cenovus gets price boost with direct sale to China
Cenovus gets price boost with direct sale to China
carrie tait
CALGARY— From Thursday's Globe and Mail
Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012
Cenovus Energy Inc. (CVE-T38.890.280.73%)sold its first drops of oil directly to China last week, fetching a higher price for its crude than if it sold its bounty in North America, and now plans to strike more export deals with Asian buyers.
EU 'Grandstanding' On Energy Imports, Says Federal Resources Minister Joe Oliver
EU 'Grandstanding' On Energy Imports, Says Federal Resources Minister Joe Oliver
02/16/2012
CALGARY - Federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver is calling a European effort to bar oil imports from Alberta's oilsands nothing more than grandstanding.
Proposed changes to the European Union's fuel quality directive would reduce emissions from transport fuels by 10 per cent in the next decade — a goal that would make it more difficult to import oilsands fuel.
Oliver says the European position is both unscientific and an attempt to single out Canadian crude.
The Enpipe Line: 70,000 km of poetry
Creekstone Press Publications
The Enpipe Line: 70,000 km of poetry written in resistance to the Northern Gateway pipeline proposal
Description: 178 pages, 9X6 inches, perfect bound
ISBN: 978-0-9783195-6-4
Price: $18
