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
Moratorium 'applies only to southbound oil-tanker traffic' (Yeah, right)
Ban doesn't apply in this case, ministers say
Moratorium 'applies only to southbound oil-tanker traffic'
Christina Montgomery, The Province
Published: Sunday, June 03, 2007
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=8eab3918-c7b2-49ca-...
When is a moratorium not a moratorium? Apparently, when governments decide it's just a "policy."
China warms to B.C. coal
China warms to B.C. coal
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=d73404f8-...
Transportation problems in Australia create opportunity for West Coast producers
Joanne Lee-Young, Vancouver Sun
Published: Monday, June 04, 2007
China's steel-makers are hungry for coal as the world's fastest-growing economy continues to overheat, and that is fuelling Chinese interest in B.C.'s coal resources, which have traditionally served Asian markets other than China.
Peak oil: A detailed and transparent analysis
Peak oil: A detailed and transparent analysis
(the article at the link provided below includes many graphs to help understand the issue ever more clearly)
by Phil Hart and Chris Skrebowski
http://www.energybulletin.net/30537.html
Tankers sailing into Kitimat
Tankers sailing into Kitimat
Environmentalists claim ban being violated
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=41e59307-af32-4f58-...
Christina Montgomery, The Province
Published: Sunday, June 03, 2007
Transport Canada has confirmed that, since January 2006, 14 tankers have sailed through the area covered by a federal tanker-traffic moratorium to deliver condensate -- a toxic solvent headed for Alberta's tar sands -- to Kitimat.
Baghdad Burns, Calgary Booms
Baghdad Burns, Calgary Booms
By Naomi Klein // The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070618/klein
The invasion of Iraq has set off what could be the largest oil boom in
history. All the signs are there: multinationals free to gobble up
national firms at will, ship unlimited profits home, enjoy leisurely
"tax holidays" and pay a laughable 1 percent in royalties to the
government.
This isn't the boom in Iraq sparked by the proposed new oil law--that
will come later. This boom is already in full swing, and it is
Opinions differ on safety of possible nuclear plant
Opinions differ on safety of possible nuclear plant
Last Updated: Monday, May 28, 2007 | 11:42 AM MT
CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2007/05/28/alberta-nuclear.html
A sustainable energy advocate is warning about the possible safety drawbacks of building a nuclear power plant in Alberta, but an engineering expert said the risks are small.
"There are all sorts of different ways in which material can leave the plant under both normal operating conditions, accident conditions or the possibility of a security incident," said Mark Winfield of the Pembina Institute.
Nuclear Power Alternative in Alberta Raising Questions of Appropriateness
Nuclear Power Alternative in Alberta Raising Questions of Appropriateness
http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=32318
By Dina O'Meara
27 May 2007 at 09:02 PM GMT-04:00
CALGARY (CP) -- Nuclear power might be all the rage for some interested parties in Alberta's oil patch, but others question the need for such controversial power generation in an industry that requires more steam than electricity.
Alberta finance minister feeling nervous about energy royalty review
Alberta finance minister feeling nervous about energy royalty review
Published: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 | 9:31 PM ET
Canadian Press: JIM MACDONALD
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/business/070530/b0530128A.html
EDMONTON (CP) - With many Albertans feeling left in the dust by the current energy boom, Finance Minister Lyle Oberg says he's nervous about an ongoing review of billions of dollars in annual resource royalties.
Oberg concedes it's the kind of issue a government can get beaten over the head with, especially if voters don't have confidence in the way the review is handled.
The Shocking Price of Using Up Fossil Fuels
The shocking price of using up fossil fuels
Emissions would stay in the atmosphere for more than 5,000 years, scientist says
Margaret Munro, CanWest News Service
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=e605ed94-9c7f-42fa...
Published: Thursday, May 31, 2007
Burning all known reserves of fossil fuels, from Alberta's tarsands to China's vast stores of coal, would have much graver long-term consequences than previously thought, according to climate scientists.
Mackenzie Gas Project: Now more than ever: "It's not economical"-- So Let's Kill it.
Now more than ever: Don't negotiate the pipeline, stop it. We have the best political environment, using their financial environment, to help protect the Deh Cho Valley environment from being used to kill the Athabascan environment. in other words, not since Thomas Berger was in the Valley has their been such coherent, palpable opposition to the construction of the MGP. People in the north know that climate change is real; their neighbours houses are washing into the Arctic Ocean and birds such as robins and barn owls that have never been in the north before are flying about these days.
