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
Tar Sands development edging closer in Trinidad and Tobago?
Tar Sands development edging closer in Trinidad and Tobago?
RBC appears at Trinidad government forum extolling their record in Canada's tar sands
by Macdonald Stainsby
April 19, 2011
Mediacoop.ca
In December of 2010, Rainforest Action Network [RAN], issued a press release that was full of praise for the Royal Bank of Canada adopting a new framework around investments in companies involved in tar sands production.
Government failure on tar-sands royalties shameful, says AFL
Government failure on oil-sands royalties shameful, says AFL
"The Tories are allowing billions of dollars to slip through their fingers
while they say we can't afford to keep schools open," laments McGowan
EDMONTON, April 15 /CNW/ -The Auditor General's Report on oil-sands royalties confirms Albertans' worst suspicions - that the Progressive Conservative government cares more about the energy industry's bottom line than what is in the best interests of Albertans, says the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL).
Canadians Fight Tar Sands, Israelis Fight Oil Shale
Canadians Fight Tar Sands, Israelis Fight Oil Shale
April 12th, 2011
Tafline Laylin
Rachel Jacobson shares the story behind protecting the beautiful view from “Big Oil.”
BLM reconsidering acreage for oil shale, tar sands (USA)
BLM reconsidering acreage for oil shale, tar sands
The Salt Lake Tribune
First published Apr 13 2011
The Bureau of Land Management will conduct a “fresh” study to determine how much public acreage to open to potential oil shale and tar sands development, the agency announced Wednesday.
In 2008, under the Bush administration, the agency amended eight area management plans in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming to open about 1.9 million acres for oil shale development and more than 430,000 acres for tar sands.
Protesters demand halt to bank’s tar sands financing (Scotland)
Protesters demand halt to bank’s tar sands financing
Herald Scotland
cHRIS WATT and SIMON BAIN
20 Apr 2011
PROTESTERS yesterday hijacked a meeting of the Royal Bank of Scotland to demand an end to state-backed funding for tar sands oil projects.
Representatives of Canada’s First Nations visited Edinburgh to tell the bank’s annual meeting that oil extraction could threaten their way of life and cause untold environmental damage in the event of a spill.
Estonia sees rock as future of global energy (oil shale)
Estonia sees rock as future of global energy
By Anneli Reigas (AFP) – Mar 22, 2011
NARVA, Estonia — A huge excavator bites into the earth of an open-cast mine, as the operator skillfully mans the controls in a cabin four storeys from ground level.
For the small Baltic state of Estonia, rock is the future of energy.
The European Union nation of 1.3 million generates 97 percent of its electricity thanks to oil shale -- sediment formed 400-450 million years ago, containing hydrocarbons. Its industry forecasts that shale's use can only expand.
US Feds to consider tars sands, shale projects
Feds to consider tars sands, shale projects
The Associated Press April 13, 2011
SALT LAKE CITY
The federal government says it will take a fresh look at commercial oil shale and tar sands plans in the Western United States.
The Bureau of Land Management said Wednesday it would soon begin performing environmental studies for potential projects on federal land in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. The agency is seeking public comment.
Canadian firm to probe Utah tar sands
Canadian firm to probe Utah oil sands
Project to build mine would be first of its kind in United States
Written by
CHI-CHI ZHANG
Associated Press
April 17 2011
SALT LAKE CITY -- Beneath the lush, green hills of eastern Utah's Uinta Basin, where elk, bear and bison outnumber people, the soil is saturated with a sticky tar that may soon provide a new domestic source of petroleum for the United States.
It would be a first-of-its kind project in the country that some fear could be a slippery slope toward widespread wilderness destruction.
Is There Such a Thing as 'Ethical Oil'?
Is There Such a Thing as 'Ethical Oil'? Canada Claims it Has Lots and the US Is Buying It
By Jason Mark, Earth Island Journal
AlterNet
Sunday, Apr 17, 2011
To get to the quaint village of Fort McKay in the far north of Alberta, Canada, you first have to pass through some version of hell.
"It's no pipe dream"
It's no pipe dream
Politics has no place in Keystone review
For Calgary Herald April 10, 2011
Politicians on both sides of the border should cool the rhetoric over TransCanada Corp.'s contentious pipeline to Texas and get back to dealing with the facts.
Speaking publicly for the first time about the $7-billion Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast, President Barack Obama contradicted his earlier message about the need for increased imports from friendly countries such as Canada.
