Oil Sands Truth: Shut Down the Tar Sands

Alberta (& Saskatchewan) Tar Sands

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.

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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.

Peak Petroleum and Public Health

Vol. 298 No. 14, October 10, 2007 JAMA
Journal of American Medical Association
Peak Petroleum and Public Health
Howard Frumkin, MD, DrPH; Jeremy Hess, MD, MPH; Stephen Vindigni, MPH

JAMA. 2007;298:1688-1690.

Everyone's Downstream: A Conference on Tar Sands Realities and Resistance

Everyone’s Downstream: Tar Sands Realities and Resistance
Conference to be held at:
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
November 24-25th, 2007
http://oilsandstruth.org

CNRL threatens to "Leave"(Wanna help them pack?)

I must comment on this-- This corporation is the one that is trying to re-shape human rights, migrant and labour rights law and is leading the way in getting the flood gates opened for massive amounts of "temporary foreign worker" programs. They have been operating in their "Horizon Oilsands Project" with 500 no-rights, no papers labourers. These workers are the ultimate in cost saving, and CNRL, apparently while making people "learn while they go on the job", have killed 2 in accidents and wounded four others, all from China. If this doesn't save them enough money, then nothing will.

Nuclear Watchdog Buddies up with Nuke Industry

ENERGY REGULATOR
Nuclear watchdog too close to industry, report suggests
SUE BAILEY AND JIM BRONSKILL
The Canadian Press
October 9, 2007

OTTAWA -- Canada's nuclear safety watchdog appears to be too cozy with the industry it's supposed to monitor, suggests an independent report.

The study ordered by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission cites long-standing complaints that the regulator focuses far more on the companies it licenses than on concerned lobby groups or citizens.

Fargo mayor: Don't allow Canadian [Keystone] oil pipeline

Fargo mayor: Don't allow Canadian oil pipeline
Oct 07, 2007
By DALE WETZEL
Associated Press Writer

Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker says the huge new Keystone oil pipeline is a potential threat to his city's water supply, and he's asking the state Public Service Commission to deny a permit for the project.

Walaker suggested Friday that the pipeline's route should be forced outside North Dakota until Canadian officials halt what he considers to be unreasonable opposition to a project that would bring Missouri River water to Fargo.

Forget Your Silver Bullet

Forget Your Silver Bullet
Bill Moore, EV World
US Task Force finds unconventional fuels from tar sands to shale oil will make little contribution to future energy needs.
---
The United States' Task Force on Strategic Unconventional Fuels (www.unconventionalfuels.org) has made public its findings and recommendations on the futARTHUR MAX, AssocARTHUR MAX, Associated Pressated Pressbe played by five non-petroleum energy sources found in America: shale oil, heavy crude, tar sands, coal-to-liquids and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) using captured carbon dioxide.

Corporate America's Latest CounterAttack: The Green Masquerade

Corporate America's Latest CounterAttack:
The Green Masquerade

By ALAN MAASS and JEFFREY ST. CLAIR

Alan Maass: The latest trend for corporations is to show off green
credentials--BP has a series of commercials with a guy standing in a
field talking about alternative fuels, and Rupert Murdoch is vowing to
make his international operations carbon neutral. What kind of impact do
corporate green solutions have on curbing global warming?

Jeffrey St. Clair: NONE. That's the short answer. Must we really elaborate?

Refinery/Upgrader Planned for Peace Region

Refinery touted to boost Peace oilsands
Proposed bitumen-processing plant would make development worthwhile, says company
Gordon Jaremko, edmontonjournal.com
Published: 11:56 am

EDMONTON - A proposed $2.5-billion refinery in northwestern Alberta will kick-start development in the largely overlooked oilsands around Peace River, the project's sponsor predicts.

The plant will fill in a missing economic link by creating a large new market for bitumen, said Gary Brierley, chief operating officer and a partner in privately owned Bluesky Refining Inc.

Oil on the slide

Oil on the slide
We have had plenty of warnings about the consequences of an early peak in global oil production, but no one in Westminster seems to be listening.
Jeremy Leggett
October 2, 2007 4:00 PM

Sask. Tar Sands being linked to McMurray by Highway

Highway work will link La Loche, Fort McMurray
The StarPhoenix
Published: Friday, September 21, 2007

Construction has begun on the highway, currently known as Garson Lake Road, that will eventually connect La Loche to Fort McMurray -- increasing access for the remote northern Saskatchewan community to its booming Alberta neighbour.

The province hopes this step will boost economic opportunities and provide a better quality of life for people in northern communities.