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.

IEN Statement prior to Copenhagen talks

Dear Indigenous Environmental Network Ally,

With just two weeks to go before world leaders meet in Copenhagen to deal
with climate change, we’ve run out of time for compromise. Indigenous
Environmental Network will be supporting a delegation of grassroots
community leaders from tar sands affected First Nations to attend and speak
out in Copenhagen. They will call out the Government of Canada and big oil
for their continuing failure to address the concerns of First Nations
Peoples whose Aboriginal and Treaty rights are being violated by the tar
sands and by runaway climate change.

"Province blasted for not sticking up for tar sands"

Province blasted for not sticking up for oilsands
By MARKUS ERMISCH, SUN MEDIA
18th November 2009

Alberta's government and energy industry must step up their listless defence of the oilsands and better fund their PR battle against environmental groups, says the president of the Alberta Enterprise Group.

"If we're serious about defending this asset, we need to spend some money on it," Tim Shipton told an industry conference yesterday.

"I don't see enough effort being made to position this as Canada's energy project."

North American Energy Integration: An insider perspective

Pipelines, Energy, Economy
DEREK BURNEY
WEB | November 17, 2009

Shortly after 9/11, a senior US official approached the Canadian embassy in Washington to ask whom in Ottawa he should contact regarding shared strategic infrastructure, such as pipelines and electricity grids. Presumably Canada is today better equipped now than it seemed to have been then to cope with the threat, however minimal. In any event, the issue of pipeline security needs to be placed in the larger context of energy security and economic resilience.

Indigenous women to tour U.K. to raise tar sands awareness

Canadians tour U.K. to raise oilsands awareness
Last Updated: Sunday, November 15, 2009
CBC News

Three Canadian women hope to raise awareness in the U.K. about the oilsands, and inspire citizens to take action.Three Canadian women hope to raise awareness in the U.K. about the oilsands, and inspire citizens to take action. (CBC)

Three aboriginal women from Canada are visiting the United Kingdom and Ireland as part of a 10-day tour to raise awareness around human rights issues occurring in the Alberta tarsands.

Parks, a favourite PR cover for un-green things

Parks, a favourite PR cover for un-green things
By Peter Gorrie Environment Columnist
Published On Sat Nov 14 2009 // Toronto Star

MERIDA, Mexico–It was a rare sight: a hall full of environmentalists standing to applaud federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice.

Peak oil: what does the data say?

Peak oil: what does the data say?
Terry Macalister, Guardian, November 13, 2009

The controversy over the International Energy Agency (IEA) figures has highlighted the peak oil debate. What do the numbers say?

The question is not if the world is running out of oil, it's when. There are finite quantities of crude even if the oil companies get the chance to dig up the Arctic as they are desperate to do.

Too fearful to publicise peak oil reality

The economic establishment accepts the world soon won't be able to meet energy demands, but wants to keep quiet about it

o Madeleine Bunting
o guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 10 November 2009

Big tar sands players looking to solidify holdings by gobbling up smaller stakes

Big oilsands players looking to solidify holdings by gobbling up smaller stakes

By Lauren Krugel (CP) – November 11, 2009

CALGARY — Northern Alberta is a patchwork of motley oilsands properties, with some chunks controlled by energy heavyweights and others in the hands of smaller companies.

With virtually all of the premium morsels already spoken for, the map is expected change significantly as the bigger players consolidate their positions by gobbling up smaller holdings.

‘Peak oil’ closer than we think, says IEA mole

Oil gushes from a well

Whistleblower say phoney oil figures are being used to avoid panic on markets

By Edward Helmore
FIRST POSTED NOVEMBER 10, 2009

Despite the discovery of massive new, untapped reserves, the world is much
closer to running out of oil than official estimates show, claims a
whistleblower at the International Energy Agency in the /Guardian/.

The unnamed source claims the US has been deliberately underplaying any
potential shortage and, in effect, the IEA's annual Energy Outlook, expected to

Dr O'Connor Cleared once and for all!

Doctor who suggested oilsands-cancer link cleared of misconduct charge
By Florence Loyie, Canwest News Service
November 7, 2009

EDMONTON - An embattled family physician who raised concerns about a possible link between Alberta's oilsands and cancer rates in a remote aboriginal community received vindication this week when he was cleared of causing "undue alarm."

Dr. John O'Connor found himself in hot water after he claimed in 2003 and 2004 that residents of Fort Chipewyan, Alta., had unusually high rates of blood, colon, bile-duct and liver cancer.