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
Land Owners vs. Seismic Operations (Marie Lake)
If people are to coordinate a possible fight back against the tar sands, there needs to be voices from all sectors. This is not an Albertan fight alone, and pipelines will also be running over the landowners of farms through Saskatchewan, Manitoba and if Enbridge has their way, British Columbia.
Orin Hatch: Utah should "recover" Oil Shale and Tar Sands
Oil Shale, burning much like coal after a more -involved extraction process than "regular" tar sands, is perhaps the energy equivalent of a scoundrels refuge. If we see the energy economy go to this form of extraction without coming up with a plan for a non-oil existence, then we may as well give up on most everything save the immediate future, for it will be the final surrender to climate change and the destruction of the liveable biosphere, for the purpose of fuelling a riding lawn mower...
--M
Hatch urges use of Utah's tar sands and oil shale
Company plans more than 100 In-Situ Plants
Company plans more than 100 oilsands wells
Japan Canada wants to eventually produce 35,000 barrels per day
Ashok Dutta, CanWest News Service
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=5346caff-...
Published: Friday, April 13, 2007
CALGARY -- Japan Canada Oil Sands Ltd. (Jacos) is pressing ahead with a three-year program to drill more than 100 delineation wells and shoot over 65 square kilometres of new 3-D seismic data at its lease in Athabasca's oilsands.
Dehcho: Troops at Fort Simpson Will Not Be Welcomed
Dehcho: Troops at Fort Simpson Will Not Be Welcomed
Clip:
Norwegian said the mock terrorist exercise shows gratuitous ignorance of the current situation in the Dehcho and that he would not be surprised “if some of our people greet the Canadian troops with less than a warm welcome. We have our own sovereignty over this land and do not intend to be intimidated by soldiers of a government using the threat of terrorism as an excuse to show their flag on our land.”
For immediate release
TROOPS AT FORT SIMPSON WILL NOT BE WELCOMED
American Corporations Have and Will Set Pace of Development: Analyst
Companies, not governments, control energy future: analyst
By RENATO GANDIA
Today staff
Friday April 13, 2007
http://www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/Local%20News/300358.html
The American addiction to oil is fuelling the sizzling oilsands development in Fort McMurray, said a policy analyst from the United States slated to come here Monday.
The Gigaproject Imports People: 24 Month "Guest Labourers" from China in the Tarsands
The response to this importation of people, to be exploited vastly and then dumped on transport back to their original nation-state, has often been put in terms of "Canada first" language, the language of making sure "Canadian jobs are protected" without the obvious fact that there simply is not enough labour already. The problem here is not a nationalist one, but a disposable people attitude being put forth here.
Water Wasted in Vast Amounts; Albertan Government Placates with Panel
The schemes around water need a scrutiny that does not trust in panels. With the slow-privatization of water underway with the selling of "water access rights" to farmers in southern Alberta, soon there will be a situation where perhaps GATT could kick in, and no purchaser can be discriminated against. In other words, on the current trends pathway we are headed to making it illegal to regulate how much water gets wasted.
Tar Sands Open Front in northern Saskatchewan
This story, a small community of desperately poor people who at first will welcome tar sand extraction as a possible panacea against the ravages of historical colonialism and modern poverty, is not a new one. The location is, however, and it signifies a new escalation in tarsand production. It is interesting noting their concerns about capacity in pipes that already exist in Alberta. The possibility of building the infrastructure in Saskatchewan will add another massive dimension to what is already the largest such project in the history of the Earth.
Wildcat growth in oil patch begins to trouble Albertans
Wildcat growth in oil patch begins to trouble Albertans
Review finds many want the pace slowed
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070411.RALBERTANS11/T...
DAVID EBNER
CALGARY -- The oil sands boom that's brought billions of dollars to Alberta has also brought anxiety to a significant number of citizens, some of whom are questioning the rapid pace of development as the provincial government nears the end of a long oil sands review.
"Enbridge in race to move oil south to the U.S. Gulf Coast"
Enbridge in race to move oil south to the U.S. Gulf Coast
http://communities.canada.com/nationalpost/blogs/tradingdesk/archive/200...
Enbridge Inc. will likely take the acquisition route as opposed to building from greenfield in its race with other Canadian pipeliners planning ways to move Alberta crude south to the U.S. Gulf Coast (USGC), according to Desjardins analyst Daniel Shteyn.
"We view M&A as the most likely, given cost and speed to market, and believe Enbridge will be the ultimate winner in this particular race." he said in a research note.
