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.

Alberta tar sands project will increase production

February 25, 2010
Alberta tar sands project will increase production

Calgary, Alberta – The Canadian Oil Sands Trust has announced it will increase synthetic crude oil production capacity at its Syncrude project near Fort McMurray, Alberta.

A Push to Save Greenpeace

March 5, 2010
A Push to Save Greenpeace
Employees, activists struggle against Tzeporah Berman's appointment

by Dawn Paley

Activists launched a new website today, claiming Greenpeace International's appointment of Tzeporah Berman as co-director of its climate change campaign will push Greenpeace "beyond the point of no return." The appointment would make her a leader of the organization's global climate strategy.

A Public Relations War on all Fronts

March 7, 2010
A Public Relations War on all Fronts
BC government aims to win hearts and minds in battle to open the province up to more mining, oil and gas

by Dawn Paley →Original Peoples, →Free Trade & Gateway Projects

Beyond rhetoric about improving competitiveness and establishing the province as a centre for innovation, among the most concrete strategies suggested in the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources 2010/11-2012/13 Service Plan are government sponsored marketing campaigns to promote the benefits of the extractive industries.

Is There Such a Thing as Safe Sex when Sleeping With the Enemy? | GE & tcktcktck

Is There Such a Thing as Safe Sex when Sleeping With the Enemy?

This is a follow-up piece to ‘Sleeping with the Enemy; EYES WIDE SHUT | TckTckTck exposé’, and ACTION ALERT! Is Greenpeace International set to become GE – Greenpeace Electric?

This is not a good year for Greenpeace.

Environmental leader attacks Greenpeace climate appointment

Environmental leader attacks Greenpeace climate appointment
By Andrew MacLeod
February 26, 2010 // The Tyee
http://bit.ly/a4bTKv

A prominent British Columbia environmentalist has written a letter to Greenpeace International criticizing the recent appointment of Tzeporah Berman to a position heading the organization's climate and energy campaign.

Noise limit could kill Mackenzie pipeline, Imperial says

Noise limit could kill Mackenzie pipeline, Imperial says
Jeffrey Jones, National Post
Reuters
January 29, 2010

A panel's recommendation to enforce strict noise limits at a bird
sanctuary has the potential to shut down development of the $16.2-billion
Mackenzie pipeline in Canada's Arctic, the project's backers said.

The contention is among several by Imperial Oil Ltd
and its Mackenzie partners in written responses to proposals made by the
Joint Review Panel, which assessed the massive project's environmental and
socioeconomic impacts in a report issued at the end of last year.

"B.C. eco groups call for 50 per cent land conservation"

This is damning in the extreme. What with the combination of pine beetle, forest fires and more the forests have slunk to somewhere in either the "store" or the emitter categories in BC. These people know this, they have been confronted with the science to debunk the theory that arbitrary protection of a random 50% of the forest can do *anything* ... See moreto alleviate climate change.

Tarsands leave behind ecological dead zone

Tarsands leave behind ecological dead zone
By: Staff Writer (Winnipeg Free Press)
16/01/2010

DEAR EDITOR,

Don Klassen's letter (In defence of oilsands, Jan. 11) gives the impression that the Alberta oilsands are, relative to China and American industrial emissions, an ecologically benign development. This would be true, relative to China and the U.S., only if the sole dimension to the environmental issue of the tarsands involved CO2 emissions, which is not the case.

Outspoken chief was once 'quiet kid'

By Darcy Henton, Edmonton Journal
January 25, 2010

George Poitras looked out the window of his Fort McMurray office and saw opportunity. Outside the restaurant across the street was Premier Ed Stelmach's face beaming at him from the side of a bus.

Enbridge Pipeline crews cleaning up oil leak near Neche, N.D.

Enbridge Pipeline crews cleaning up oil leak near Neche, N.D.
UPDATED 10:20 A.M.

Heavy equipment was at the site this morning, skimming soil from the surface to the frost line, according to Pembina County Sheriff Brian Erovick. "it's fairly deep, but it's not that big of any area," he said.

By: Kevin Bonham, Grand Forks Herald

Enbridge pipeline crews are cleaning up a 3,000-barrel crude oil leak near Neche, N.D.

The leak, reported to be about 126,000 gallons of light crude oil, was detected late Friday night by an Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P., control center.