Alberta Tar Sands is a category limited to the location and production of tar sand bitumen, an area the size of the state of Florida in northern Alberta province. The giant processing plants near Fort McMurray where the land itself is strip mined as well as the primarily "in situ" in-ground steam separation/production and extraction plants in the Peace and Cold Lake Regions, all in Alberta, are the "Ground Zero" of the single largest industrial gigaproject ever proposed in human history.
The process of removing the tar from the sand involves incredible amounts of energy from clean-burning natural gas (with nuclear proposed along side), tremendous capital costs during build up, incredibly high petroleum prices to protect investments, and the largest single industrial contribution to climate change in North America. Production also involves the waste of fresh water from nearby lakes, rivers and aquifers that have already created toxic tailing ponds visible from outer space. None of the land strip mined has yet to be certified as reclaimed. It takes 4 tonnes of soil to produce one barrel of oil. The tar sands are producing over 1.2 million barrels of oil a day on average. The oil companies, Canada and the United States governments are proposing to escalate production to 5 million barrels, almost all destined for American markets-- and lower environmental standards while doing so. They also would need to violate the national and human rights of many indigenous nations who are rightly concerned about many dire social, environmental and economic repercussions on their communities.
To get the needed energy supplies, diluent for the bitumen and diverted freshwater to produce and then to transport the flowing heavy bitumen for refining would require massive new infrastructure and pipeline building from three different time zones in the Arctic, across British Columbia and through Alberta in a criss-cross pattern, into pipelines to such destinations as California, China, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Ontario, Illinois, Wisconsin and Texas. This entire project is now estimated at over $170 billion dollars. And after the whole process described so far, only then will all this dirty petroleum get burned and expel greenhouse gasses into the air causing further climate change.
High costs trim forecast for oil sands production
NORVAL SCOTT
November 16, 2007
CALGARY -- Output from Alberta's oil sands will grow more slowly than was predicted last year as spiralling costs deter investment in the vast but difficult resource, Canada's national energy regulator says.
The National Energy Board forecast in a report released yesterday that by 2015 Canada's total oil output will be 4.05 million barrels of crude a day, 61 per cent greater than it was in 2005.
For Many Women, Alberta's Boom a Bust
Rising housing costs, lack of alternatives lead to precarious situations
by Maya Rolbin-Ghanie
The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca
Driven by the tar sands, Alberta's white-hot economy continues to make headlines. But the gendered repercussions of the province's boom are often neglected, understated, or altogether denied.
Deh Cho bridge could impede barge route
By MIN HUN FONG, SRJ Reporter
Alberta proponents of the northern barge route said they were disappointed their project might be forced out by the Deh Cho bridge, but said they respected the NWT’s decision in any event.
Mammoet Canada, heavy lifting specialists and a proponent of the barge route, said it would be disappointing if the barge route is cancelled, especially since the economic spinoff from the route would benefit the NWT as a whole.
Canadian Crude: Impact Felt 1,200 Miles Away
- 11/12/2007
Canada produces two and a half million barrels of oil a day and production is expected to double over the next decade. So, energy companies are looking for ways to get a newly developed oil from Canada to refineries in North America. One option is TransCanada's proposed Keystone Pipeline that would run through South Dakota and it all would start in Fort McMurray, Alberta.
It's about as far north as any paved road in Alberta goes. Fort McMurray sits in the Athabasca River valley 275 miles north of Edmonton.
Warning: this article justifies the virtual slavery of the "temporary foreign worker" programs, placing business "needs" ahead of human rights, especially in Energy exploding Alberta. Defend migrant rights, shut down the tar sands. The tar sands TFW's are not allowed off the work camp site. Think about that.
--M
Labour shortage temporarily met from abroad
Norma Greenaway , CanWest News Service
Published: Sunday, November 11, 2007
OTTAWA -- Joe Marshall had reached the end of his rope.
Cocaine: Alberta-wide increase
By CHUCK CHIANG
Fort McMurray Today staff
Tuesday November 13, 2007
The overall drug problem in Alberta is down, but cocaine-related issues are on the rise, according to a recent report by a provincial task force.
The Crime Reduction and Safe Communities Task Force said offences involving cocaine increased by 12 per cent last year, according to the Calgary Sun, versus drops in overall and marijuana drug offences.
The Richest First Nation in Canada
Ecological and political life in Fort MacKay
by Macdonald Stainsby
The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca
The primarily Indigenous, mostly Cree (also 'Chipewyan Dene') community of Fort MacKay--just north of the internationally famous tar sand "boom" city of Fort McMurray--is said to be the "richest First Nation in Canada." The alleged wealth is largely due to the fact that the community is surrounded by, and on top of, tar sand.
Study Finds Carcinogens in Water Near Alberta Oil Sands Projects
By IAN AUSTEN
Published: November 9, 2007
OTTAWA, Nov. 7 — High levels of carcinogens and toxic substances have been found in fish, water and sediment downstream from Alberta’s huge oil sands projects, according to a new study.
The 75-page report, written by Kevin P. Timoney, an ecologist with Treeline Environmental Research, was commissioned by the local health authority of Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, where many residents say they believe the oil sands developments to the south are damaging their health.
Whether we avert catastrophe with climate change may actually be decided
by Citibank and Bank of America.
by Tara Lohan
AlterNet (October 06 2007)
We're nearing the end of the window of opportunity we have to avert the
catastrophic effects predicted from the earth's changing climate. We're
either going to sink or swim. Our best hope at this time is to
drastically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, like carbon dioxide.
Global leaders are putting their heads together to come up with
solutions. Across the world, countries and municipalities are passing
Economic View: Running on empty: peak oil production is in sight, global supplies will dwindle - and the US, for one, is ill-prepared
China's rapid growth in consumption could suck up all the extra crude pumped next year, leaving other countries to get by with less
Hamish McRae
Published: 11 November 2007
