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
Why geosequestration is another distraction
Why geosequestration is another distraction
Posted by JMG at 12:37 PM on 18 Jun 2007
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/6/17/223950/134
The July/August 2007 issue of World Watch magazine (produced by the Worldwatch Institute) includes a concise demolition of carbon geosequestration in the form of a letter to the editor by one Luc Gagnon, "a senior advisor on climate change for Hydro-Quebec."
Environmentalists, NDP decry tanker traffic
NDP decries tanker traffic
http://www.goldstreamgazette.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=12&cat=23&i...
By Brennan Clarke, News staff
Jun 29 2007
Environmentalists allege federal Conservatives turning blind eye to moratorium
Increasing oil tanker activity in B.C.’s northern waters has West Coast NDPers calling on Ottawa and Victoria to “formalize” a long-standing moratorium on tanker traffic and offshore exploration.
US Refineries to Double Tar Sands intake by 2015: CAPP
As the first new refinery in the US for 30 years was announced recently, it is worthy to note the number of new ones that are planned for the future increase in tar sands production. They are needed, since the US sees the tarsands as "domestic" production.
--M
US refinery demand for Canadian crude to double by 2015: CAPP
BY JUDY MONCHUK, CP
CALGARY (CP) _ U.S. refinery demand for western Canadian crude oil is projected to almost double by 2015, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers says in its annual outlook.
Fort MacKay to start Commerical Operation of Tar Sands Mining
As always, when it comes to writing these press releases the official Indian Act government of the population is considered and treated as the only voice that the nation should have. There are serious heath concerns, random violence and the worst environmental nightmare imaginable on this territory (misspelled in the article below) of Fort MacKay.
Will Royal Dutch Shell Turn B.C. into Nigeria North?
Nigeria North
Will Royal Dutch Shell Turn B.C. into Nigeria North?
June 7, 2007 (Victoria, BC) - A video released today draws attention to
the takeover this month of Shell Canada by Royal Dutch Shell and its
implications for a northern BC First Nation.
View Nigeria North video online: www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2RUhJGbjDM
The five-minute documentary by the Victoria-based Dogwood Initiative
focuses on Royal Dutch Shell's poor human rights track record in
South Dakota: Eminent Domain Could Be Used For [Keystone] Oil Pipeline
Eminent Domain Could Be Used For Oil Pipeline
http://www.keloland.com/News/NewsDetail6371.cfm?Id=0,58307
06/27/2007
The 220 mile Transcanada pipeline is going to affect 500 tracts of land in South Dakota. TransCanada officials say if they can't get signed agreements on all those pieces of land, they'll use eminent domain to build the crude oil pipeline. So what do landowners who would be impacted by the pipeline think of that?
North Dakota: Walsh County couple challenging [Keystone] pipeline
Walsh County couple challenging pipeline
http://www.kxmc.com/News/138318.asp
Jun 26 2007 8:42AM
Associated Press
Bismarck, N.D. (AP) A Walsh County couple and the Dakota Resource Council are trying to stop part of a proposed two (b) billion-dollar crude oil pipeline from going through North Dakota.
John and Janie Capp of Lankin and the D-R-C have asked the state Public Service Commission for a hearing on whether the TransCanada Keystone pipeline is needed. They're citing a constitutional amendment approved by voters last fall.
South Dakota/ Keystone Pipeline: What Happens If There's A Spill?
06/26/2007
Pipeline: What Happens If There's A Spill?
http://www.keloland.com/News/NewsDetail6371.cfm?Id=0,58249
Tuesday night's public meetings about the TransCanada pipeline are expected to draw a large crowd, and a main concern is the possibility of fuel spills.
With more than 200 miles of pipeline that would run under the South Dakota prairie, a leak or a spill is a possibility, which could contaminate our water, air, and land.
While Keystone officials say TransCanada has never had a leak on a pipeline constructed after 1980, it will be prepared for such an event.
After Venezuela, ConocoPhillips May Redouble Canada Efforts
After Venezuela, ConocoPhillips May Redouble Canada Efforts
June 26, 2007: 03:37 PM EST
CALGARY -(Dow Jones)- Venezuela's intransigence on its challenging crude-oil projects may send ConocoPhillips' (COP) into the arms of Canada's oil sands.
Venezuela confirmed Tuesday that ConocoPhillips would exit the Orinico river basin, home to ventures that produce low-quality, or heavy, oil, after the Houston-based energy company refused the terms covering a new ownership structure for its projects. Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) also said it wasn't able to reach agreement with Venezuela.
Reaganites come to Tar Sands' Defense
The American Conservative movement has started to embrace and defend the tar sands. Delightful to see, considering article like the one below are always a reflection of effectiveness, even if they portend to belittle the very effectiveness we are starting to have.
--M
Tar sands: More oil than Saudi Arabia
Posted: June 16, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56206
