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
Oil Shale Mining and Research Picking Up Steam
Oil Shale Mining and Research Picking Up Steam
By Al Fin | Sat, 15 January 2011
Oilprice.com
Estonia's largest oil shale mining company, Eesti Energia, reported the largest oil shale production figures in 18 years for 2010 - 17 million tons, up 3 million tons from the year before.
The bulk of the national power company Eesti Energia's mining subsidiary's production is used in the furnaces of the Narva power plants, which have significantly geared up electricity production due to a sharp decline in imports after the closure of Lithuania's Ignalina nuclear plant. _ERRNews
A thought on the denial of the Keystone XL permit
Not a statement, but a thought on the denial of the Keystone XL permit. This was not Obama "getting it right"-- this was Obama afraid of people power.
How lemurs fight climate change
How lemurs fight climate change
Jeremy Hance
mongabay.com
January 09, 2012
An interview with Kara Moses, a part of our on-going Interviews with Young Scientists series.
Chávez and Venezuela beat Exxon in Arbitration
Exxon Mobil Gets $908 Million in Venezuela
By AP / IAN JAMES Sunday, Jan. 01, 2012
(CARACAS, Venezuela) —
An international arbitration body has awarded Exxon Mobil Corp. nearly $908 million in a dispute with Venezuela over compensation for the nationalization of its assets, the company said Sunday.
Exxon Mobil sought arbitration after President Hugo Chavez's government nationalized an oil project in the country in 2007.
TransCanada not giving up on KXL Pipeline
TransCanada hopes to stick to 2014 timeline for Keystone pipeline
By Rebecca Penty, Calgary Herald; With Files From James Wood And Dina O'meara, Calgary Herald January 19, 2012
Keystone XL backer TransCanada Corp. is maintaining an ambitious plan to have its proposed Alberta-to-Texas oil pipeline operating by late 2014, though the Obama administration that rejected the line Wednesday says any subsequent application would spark a fresh review.
Enbridge loses their sole First Nation "agreement", has zero suppport
Enbridge undeterred by B.C. chiefs’ rebuke of Northern Gateway
wendy stueck
VANCOUVER— From Thursday's Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012
With its sole public agreement with a native group in tatters, Northern Gateway proponent Enbridge Inc. on Wednesday said it will continue to court the Gitxsan First Nation and other bands whose traditional territories would be crossed by the $5.5-billion pipeline project.
Obama denies permit for Keystone XL pipeline
Obama denies permit for Keystone pipeline
Alberta Tories to blame for our friendless status
By Don Braid, Calgary Herald January 19, 2012
As the Keystone XL pipeline collides yet again with U.S. politics, nobody cries for Alberta. Our licence plate motto could be: Alberta, The Friendless Province.
And we've earned our lonely state; or at least, successive PC governments have won it for us.
This latest fiasco results from decades of bad provincial policy, lax oversight, and overweening, belligerent pride in money and resources bestowed by nature, not by virtue.
Exxon 'loses' Venezuela nationalisation case
Exxon 'loses' Venezuela nationalisation case
World's biggest oil company receives ten per cent of what it demanded in a dispute over the planet's "largest" deposit.
Chris Arsenault
06 Jan 2012
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has taken a tough line with multinational oil companies [GALLO/GETTY]
Hugo Chavez must be smiling.
Oil Shale in Morocco: Reserves, History and Production
Oil Shale in Morocco: Reserves, History and Production
FreePRNews.in(Press Release) - Friday, January 6th, 2012 -
Latin oil supplies for U.S. start to dry up
Latin oil supplies for U.S. start to dry up
Canadian pipeline can fill gap
By Patrice Hill
The Washington Times
Monday, January 2, 2012
The political and environmental debates swirling around the proposed $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to Texas miss a crucial point, energy analysts say: The Canadian oil is needed to replace fast-dwindling production from two other major suppliers of oil — Mexico and Venezuela.
