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.
Tar Sands Player Suncor In Wind Deal
by Pete Danko, October 1st, 2010
Suncor actually made one of its Alberta critics smile. The company, a big player in the province’s controversial tar sands industry, accomplished that feat by announcing a partnership with Teck Resources on an 88-megawatt (MW) wind farm about 80 miles east of Calgary.
The money quote is here:
"Although Suzuki expressed surprise at Coutu's overtures, CAPP vice-president Greg Stringham says such meetings between companies and environmentalists happen all the time."
Mercury in eggs downstream from oil sands grows 50 per cent: study
Bob Weber
Edmonton— The Canadian Press
Published Friday, Oct. 01, 2010
A study by Environment Canada indicates levels of toxic mercury in the eggs of water birds downstream from the oil-sands industry seem to have grown by nearly 50 per cent over the last three decades.
The study, one of the few to compare the region's ecosystem before and after its industrial boom, doesn't tie the increased mercury specifically to energy development.
Canada announces oil sands water review panel members
By Stephanie Dearing.
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Canada's Environment Minister, Jim Prentice, unveiled his picks for the six person review panel he had announced he would set up. The panel is to review all the Alberta oil sands water monitoring information.
Prentice's follow-through on his announcement to form the panel in September caught Alberta off balance, said The Tyee's Andrew Nikiforuk. The federal government of Canada has had a 'hands-off' approach when it comes to the oil sands developments.
Port will be key link in controversial Canadian oil project
By Aaron Corvin
Columbian Staff writer
October 1, 2010
Monday, the Port of Vancouver will display its ability to handle huge, odd-looking international cargo, generating revenue and fulfilling long-term economic-development objectives along the way.
More birds dying in oil sands than first reported: study
CTV.ca News Staff
Tuesday Sep. 7, 2010
A new report suggests more birds are dying in Alberta's tar sands than the government has let on.
Government industries have estimated that on average, about 65 birds die each year from tailings pond exposure, according to the study released Tuesday. The mean annual rate was determined by analyzing the mortality rate between 2000 and 2007.
Syncrude chairman in Vancouver defends tarsands
Chairman says carbon emissions have been reduced
By Damian Inwood,
The Province
September 10, 2010
Syncrude Canada chairman Marcel Coutu stood before a business-friendly Vancouver lunch crowd and fired a salvo in defence of the Alberta tarsands giant's environmental record.
NASA scientist to testify at Total oilsands hearing
The Canadian Press
Date: Sunday Sep. 19, 2010 10:15 AM ET
One of NASA's top scientists will appear at hearings into a proposed oilsands project to warn about the climate change consequences of approving Total E&P Canada's $2-billion plan to build the Joslyn North mine.
James Hansen, head of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, is slated to testify at public hearings into the proposal, which begin Tuesday in Fort McMurray, Alta.
Foundations and the Environmental Movement
September 13, 2010
An Interview With Daniel Faber
By MICHAEL BARKER
Ottawa tightens muzzle
Documents reveal scientists need approval from minister's office before speaking with major media - a measure one researcher calls 'Orwellian'
By MARGARET MUNRO, Postmedia News
September 13, 2010
The Harper government has tightened the muzzle on federal scientists, going so far as to control when and what they can say about floods at the end of the last ice age.
