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
New hopes that tar sands could be banned from Europe
New hopes that tar sands could be banned from Europe
Landmark EU fuel quality directive gets a reprieve, opening the way for more-polluting tar sands oil to be taxed at a higher rate effectively pricing it out of the market
Arthur Neslen in Brussels
Thursday 19 February 2015
A landmark directive with the potential to ban tar sands oil from Europe has been reprieved, the Guardian has learned.
The EU’s most senior energy official confirmed that the fuel quality directive (FQD) to encourage greener road fuels will not be scrapped at the end of the decade, as had been thought.
Shell Withdraws From Largest Tar Sands Project Yet
Shell Withdraws From Largest Tar Sands Project Yet
by Ari Phillips Posted on February 25, 2015
"Shell Withdraws From Largest Tar Sands Project Yet"
Keystone XL is not the only deciding factor in the future of tar sands extraction.
Anti-tar sands activists in the U.S. are getting visits from the FBI
Anti-oil sands activists in the U.S. are getting visits from the FBI
Alexander Panetta
WASHINGTON — The Canadian Press
Published Saturday, Feb. 07 2015
Unexpected visitors have been dropping in on anti-oil activists in the United States — knocking on doors, calling, texting, contacting family members.
The visitors are federal agents.
Opponents of Canadian oil say they’ve been contacted by FBI investigators in several states following their involvement in protests that delayed northbound shipments of equipment to Canada’s oilsands.
Shell shelves plan for Pierre River tar sands project in face of low oil prices
Shell shelves plan for tar sands project in face of low oil prices
Withdrawal from the Pierre River project is the latest in a series of blows to industry reliant on high cost production struggling with oil prices at six-year lows
Shell has shelved plans for a major new tar sands mine in Canada, the largest project yet to fall victim to low oil prices.
The company has withdrawn its application for the 200,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Pierre River project and will instead concentrate on boosting the profitability of its existing 255,000-bpd oil sands operations.
Obama vetoes Keystone XL pipeline bill
Obama vetoes Keystone XL pipeline bill
JACQUELYN MARTIN/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Associated Press |
WASHINGTON—Defying the Republican-run Congress, President Barack Obama rejected a bill Tuesday to approve construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, wielding his veto power for only the third time in his presidency.
Opposition Mounting to Energy East Export Pipeline Even Before TransCanada Files Official Application
Opposition Mounting to Energy East Export Pipeline Even Before TransCanada Files Official Application
OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - May 20, 2014) - Opposition to TransCanada's proposed Energy East pipeline - which would be North America's largest oil pipeline, transporting crude from Alberta east through Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes - is mounting steadily across eastern Canada, even before the company has filed its official project application.
Shell hits back at 'carbon bubble' claims
Shell hits back at 'carbon bubble' claims
Oil and gas company publishes 20 page document telling investors that climate laws will not leave it with 'stranded assets'
John Vidal
theguardian.com, Tuesday 20 May 2014
Chicago's Petcoke Woes Are Far From Over
Chicago's Petcoke Woes Are Far From Over
Mayor Rahm Emanuel banned new or expanded refineries that produce the stuff, but the Southeast side is still dealing with what's already there.
Sarah Goodyear
May 19, 2014
Climate Change and Cultural Adaptation in Coastal Louisiana
Climate Change and Cultural Adaptation in Coastal Louisiana
Facing the Rising Tide
by JULIA KOPPEL MALDONADO
May 20, 2014
Protesters rally in Marktown against BP (Indiana)
Protesters rally in Marktown against BP
May 17, 2014
EAST CHICAGO — Michelle BarlondSmith of Battle Creek, Mich., has been living with the aftereffects of the Enbridge oil spill for three years, nine months and 24 days, and her community is still not whole.
