Indigenous

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.

Whatever It Takes:
Protecting the Tar Sands, Protecting Capitalism
Ryan Katz-Rosene

Something is rotten in the province of Alberta! And it's not just the tar sands. It's the way political and corporate elites do whatever it takes to extinguish potential threats to the bituminous megaproject. The attempt to protect the tar sands from criticism can be framed as a part of a broader effort to protect the ‘rights’ of private interests to profit from bitumen production.

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.

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:

Exploitation pétrolière : Le projet Bemolanga met en danger l’environnement
20 août 2010
MATV-- Madagascar

Exploitation pétrolière de Bemolanga : Un danger inévitable pour la population locale
Vendredi, 20 Août 2010
Midi Madagasikara

12 arrested in Camp for Climate Action protests in Edinburgh
By Gemma Fox.
Digital Journal
August 23, 2010

Edinburgh - Protesting against one particular bank and their investments in the oil, coal and gas industries, Camp for Climate Action arrived in Edinburgh on August 19 to begin training and protesting against the actions of RBS, the Royal Bank of Scotland.

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

By Kyle Ashmead.
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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.

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.

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.