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.
US Tea Party's Deep Ties to Oil Sands Giant
Owners of Koch Industries, a major processor of Alberta crude, spent millions to foment and support a movement against Obama's climate change policies.
By Geoff Dembicki, November 1, 2010, TheTyee.ca
The Tea Party movement, poised to help shift the U.S. legislature to the right and stymie President Obama's green agenda, has financial and organizational ties to Koch Industries, one of America's biggest processors of Alberta oil sands crude.
Idaho road becomes oilsands battleground
By Shaun Polczer,
Calgary Herald
October 23, 2010
A twisting highway in the scenic Pacific Northwest has become the latest battleground for anti-oilsands activists hoping to block development of the world's second-largest oil reserves.
More than 200 process modules for Imperial Oil's $8-billion Kearl oilsands mine began arriving in Vancouver, Wash., on Oct. 3 and are being barged up the Columbia and Snake rivers to Lewiston, Idaho, without permits from state authorities to ship them 1,300 kilometres overland to the Alberta border.
J.P. Morgan aims at Canadian oil sands
Broker initiates coverage of names from the Great White North
Oct. 25, 2010,
By Steve Gelsi, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — J.P. Morgan on Monday launched coverage of six Canadian oil stocks as it took aim at the vast oil sands of Alberta as oil prices stabilize at or above $80-a-barrel.
J.P. Morgan analyst Katherine Lucas Minyard said the move reflects the conclusion that the oil sands will provide in increasingly important source of oil.
Syncrude Fined $3m for Duck Kill at Tar Sands
by Richard Komorowski – Cornwall Ontario – October 23, 2010
Cornwall ON – Syncrude, which last year had revenues estimated at $7 billion, was today fined almost $3m for the massive duck kill in April 2008.
The company, which is jointly owned by a number of multinational oil companies, was convicted of one offence under the federal Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994, and one count under the Alberta Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act.
First Nations Women to Speak Out in Toronto against Tar Sands
By Kathleen Airdrie
Published Oct 25, 2010
National First Nations Women's Speakers Tour on Tar Sands will hold an event October 27, 2010 at the University of Toronto.
The women’s tour is sponsored by several organizations concerned with the devastation caused by the massive projects’ degradation of the land.
First Nations Women Speaking Out
Utterly amazing that this puff piece-- a letter to the editor-- would be sent to the pro-industry paper of record in Canada. As a clarion call to alert tar sands operators that from now on, Tides (and those they fund, such as Greenpeace, Canadian Boreal Initiative, David Suzuki Foundation and the "invisible to the outside" North American tar sands coalition itself) is no longer going to allow itself to be a part of this crap about "shutting down the tar sands" but instead will be a part of a fake deal that greenwashes while development continues.
Can the Canadian Economy Afford the Tar Sands?
Jeffrey Rubin
Economist // October 19, 2010
America is banking on a lot more Canadian bitumen exports to supply it with oil in the future. Already the single largest source of the US's imported oil, the Alberta tar sands' supply could soon comprise as much as almost a third of America's total oil imports -- apart from the fact that it's far from clear whether or not the rest of the Canadian economy could afford the consequences.
Activists increase scrutiny of industry
No Stopping Shareholders; Influence key to corporate transparency
By Shaun Polczer, Calgary Herald
October 6, 2010
Unconventional resource development such as oilsands and shale gas is increasingly drawing the attention of shareholder activists and influencing corporate decision-making, the head of one of Canada's largest integrated oil companies said in Calgary Tuesday.
Imperial's oilsands modules traverse circuitous route
By Dave Cooper, Edmonton Journal October 16, 2010
With Imperial's $8-billion Kearl oilsands project now about 25 per cent complete, the first two South Koreanmade modules have arrived by barge in Lewiston, Idaho, after a 500-kilometre trip from the U.S. West Coast.
A shipload of modules arrived on Oct. 3 at the Port of Vancouver, Wash., across from Portland on the Columbia River. The units were loaded onto barges and towed up the Columbia and Snake rivers to Lewiston.
Junior oilsands players receive legislative green lights on projects
Southern Pacific Resources and Laricina Energy get Orders in Council
By Dina O'Meara, Calgary Herald October 18, 2010
CALGARY - Junior oilsands players Southern Pacific Resources Corp. and Laricina Energy have received provincial approvals for their thermal projects in northeastern Alberta.
