Oil Sands Truth: Shut Down the Tar Sands

Oil Sands Truth exists to disseminate information regarding the environmental, social and economic impacts of tar sands development projects being proposed and currently in progress. Oilsandstruth.org holds the view that nothing short of a full shut down of all related projects in all corners of North America can realistically tackle climate change and environmental devastation.

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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 all three 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

Maps by Oil Sands Truth

Tar Sands Development, Existing and Planned

Pipeline Expansion, 2009-2035 UPDATED

Sea Level Rise and Tar Sands Depletion

Recent News

Clay County commissioners reach impasse on Keystone crossing fees

Pipelines International, December 01, 2009

Commissioners from Clay County in Kansas, United States of America, have instructed the County Highway Department to refrain from issuing any road crossing permits required to construct TransCanada’s Keystone Pipeline until the issue of road crossing fees has been resolved.

Clay County has proposed a “road crossing fee” of $US1,500 for each road crossed by the Keystone Pipeline in their county.

Jim Hansen Takes on NRDC and Bank of America

November 30th, 2009

Will the media and policy makers finally wake up and pay attention after the world’s leading global warming scientists takes the extraordinary and unprecedented step to publicly criticize US national environmental groups for their lax posture on global warming?

Or will the mighty Obama Administration, Democratic Washington DC beltway, and corporate PR Wurlitzer continue to dominate US public opinion?

Full article, with important and informative photos:

The Most Urgent Threat to World Peace Is … Canada

By George Monbiot, Monbiot.com. Posted December 2, 2009.

The harm this country could do in the next two weeks will outweigh all the good it has done in a century.

Activists Protest Natural Resources Defense Council for Collaborating With Polluters

By Joseph Huff-Hannon , Huffington Post. Posted December 1, 2009.

The protestors say that the environmental advocacy group has aligned itself with corporate interests whose goals for reducing emissions are far too limited.

Wet’suwet’en layout opposition of Enbridge gateway

Wet’suwet’en layout opposition of Enbridge gateway
By Rikki Schierer - Houston Today

Published: November 25, 2009
Updated: November 27, 2009

The Wet’suwet’en are outright opposed for the proposed development of Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines.

That was the message from Dave deWit, the Wet’suwet’en’s Natural Resources Manager, who was on the panel of speakers at last Tuesday’s Committee of the Whole meeting where representatives from Northern Gateway, Pembina Institute and the National Energy Board were on hand to discuss the proposed pipeline project.

Enbridge Holding Private Meetings along BC "Corridor".

Enbridge advisory meeting to be held
December 01, 2009
Terrace Standard

Enbridge Northern Gateway will be holding meetings in Kitimat and Smithers next week, some that will be open to the general public and some that won’t.

Enbridge’s multi-billion dollar proposed pipeline project would transport oil and condensate through twin pipelines between Alberta and Kitimat, with the oil being shipped overseas.

Oil exports to Asia drive expansion plans at B.C. ports in Vancouver and Kitimat

Dredging First and Second Narrows in Burrard Inlet to allow passage of larger ships is already on the agenda

By Don Whiteley, Special to The Sun
December 1, 2009

VANCOUVER — In the past six months, the concept of Canada shipping crude oil to Asian markets has warmed considerably, with major Chinese and Korean investments in Alberta’s oilsands developments and the impending announcement of serious backers (likely Asian) for a new crude-oil pipeline to Kitimat stoking the fires.

Peak Everything

By Gunther Ostermann

28 November, 2009
http://www.countercurrents.org/ostermann281109.htm
Countercurrents.org

The former media mogul Ted Turner challenged us in 1992 with this statement:' If we don't make the right choices after we have all the information, then we don't deserve to live."

Well, we have more than enough information. Oil and gas, the stored sun's energy, which took hundreds of millions of years to incubate, gone forever within this century. We are, in fact, approaching PEAK EVERYTHING.

Group formed to oppose Enbridge pipeline plan

Group formed to oppose pipeline plan
Written by Gordon Hoekstra
Prince George Citizen staff
Thursday, 26 November 2009

A new environmental group based in Prince George has been formed to fight Enbridge's proposed $4.5-billion oil and condensate pipelines through northern B.C.