Oil Sands Truth: Shut Down the Tar Sands

Forests

Forests lose more trees and habitat to pipeline “right of way” cuts and tar pit building than to clearcuts. With minor variation, pipelines go the direct route. Through the strip mining of the land that contains tarsand petroleum and through pipeline construction to accomodate, only the Amazon Basin in Brazil would see larger rates of deforestation than the Boreal forest cover surrendered to the tarsands. Roads often accompany pipelines, as do various other developments. Hundreds of thousands of miles of forests, all combined, have been lost to infrastructure built to accommodate tarsands operations. Now the industry wants to build two approximately 1200 km long Mackenzie and Gateway pipelines as well as 2700 km's from Alaska's North Slope to accomodate tarsand oil production.

West Moberly says Site C would power tar sands not homes

Monday, 30 August 2010

Amid a bevy of resource projects in northeast B.C., the West Moberly First Nation claims the province is green-washing its Site C hydroelectric project.

“It’s not clean and it’s not green,” West Moberly Chief Roland Willson told BIV in a recent interview.

The First Nation community is a member of the Treaty 8 Tribal Association near Fort St. John where dozens of companies are snapping up land to build the next shale gas well, coal mine or renewable power project.

Canada Insists Oil-Rich Tar Sands Are Sustainable

Canada Insists Oil-Rich Tar Sands Are Sustainable
By Leon Kaye | August 25th, 2010
Triple Pundit

Some of Canada’s most stunning natural beauty is in the prosperous province of Alberta. Walk through downtown Calgary and you get the vibe that it is the true economic center of Canada. Banff and Jasper National Parks boast incredible scenery and awe-inspiring wildlife. About 275 miles and a nine-hour drive away, the landscape changes, and displays the driver behind Alberta’s economic success.

"Saving the Oil Sands"

Of the three supposed most incorrect statements listed here in this Tait article, I would assume that since the 3rd one is word for word lifted off of the front page of OilSandsTruth.org it deserves response.

However, since it is clearly designed to mock the tar sands critics, and to do so with the most far reaching split hairs, let us take up the first two points she critiques:

How the Tar Sands Threaten Canada's Economic Fate

A short course in Dutch Disease, deindustrialization and the Bitumen Curse.

By Andrew Nikiforuk, 13 Aug 2010, TheTyee.ca

Every week Canada's least favorite Emir, Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach, earnestly lectures Canadians that the mighty tar sands are a boon to the national economy because "Alberta's engine drives Canada."

First ever 'Tar Sands Healing Walk' voices of concerned citizens

By Kyle Ashmead.
►
Fort Mcmurray - A "Tar Sand Healing Walk" was held in Fort MacMurray, AB, Canada. On August 14th, 2010.

The first of its kind in the tar sands region of Alberta.

"Knocking tar sands bolsters Northern Gateway"

Unfortunately for all of us and not just the venerable Ms Yaffe, this is not in fact, true. The plans of Kinder Morgan, et al to pump more and more tar sands bitumen via a pipeline through the Rocky Mountains and down into Vancouver (Burnaby) to both bolster a Chevron and perhaps a Shell refinery there, while loading up tankers in the Vancouver Burrard Inlet to ship out to places both near (California) and far (Asia) has been touted as "making Gateway redundant". Tar Sands bitumen shipments from the Burrard Inlet is not a victory.

Beautiful destruction disturbs and enchants

Beautiful destruction disturbs and enchants
Thursday,
05 August 2010
Centretown News

Imagine a world of swirling technicolour among unearthly vistas of an unfathomable scale, without any obvious signs of flora or fauna.

While it seems like a description of a fantastic land like those of Tolkien or Star Trek, photographer Louis Helbig exposes these landscapes as those of the Canadian hinterland in Northern Alberta.

Canada's energy industry: Tarred with the same brush

Canada's energy industry
Tarred with the same brush
The Gulf spill has focused American minds on pollution from Canadian oil producers. But cleaning up the tar sands will not be easy

Aug 5th 2010 | ottawa
The Economist

Tar Sands Mining in Canada Creates Mercury, Arsenic Pollution

Oil-Sands Mining in Canada Creates Mercury, Arsenic Pollution, Globe Says
By James Kraus - Aug 10, 2010
Bloomberg

Canada’s oil sands mining operations are producing vast and fast-growing amounts of mercury, heavy metals, arsenic and other toxic substances, the Globe and Mail reported, citing data released by Environment Canada.

The volume of arsenic and lead produced and left behind in talings ponds by bitumen mines run by Syncrude Canada Ltd, Suncor Energy Inc. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc rose 26 percent, the newspaper reported.

Aecon Group adds Alberta tar sands contractor

Aecon Group adds Alberta oil sands contractor

Eric Lam, Financial Post
Aug. 9, 2010

TORONTO -- Toronto-based Aecon Group Inc. said Monday it has offered to purchase the assets of Alberta oil sands contracting services business Cow Harbour Construction Ltd., currently under creditor protection, for $180-million.

If approved, Aecon would become one of the largest mining and land reclamation contractors in the oil sands. It is already the largest construction and infrastructure development company in Canada.