Tarsands Infrastructure: South/East [US] is a category that represents the many connecting and supplying pipelines and associated projects that are needed to transport fuels for the production of tar sands bitumen and to move tar sand heavy bitumen to the Lower 48 of the US for refining. This involves some massive new pipeline projects to Illinois, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Louisiana, California, Pennsylvania, Texas and elsewhere including existing refineries in Ontario and Quebec.
Though the category is labelled "US", the proposed new projects also traverse untouched Canadian territory across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The names of some of the larger ones include The Alberta Clipper Project, The Spearhead Pipeline (expansion) and the Keystone Pipeline, along with other pipelines controlled by TransCanada and Enbridge, as well as Imperial Oil. Despite the massive size and scale of pipeline networks already existing through the continental United States, these pipelines and associated construction would be needed to achieve US and Canadian government goals of reaching 5 million barrels a day of tar sand oil being shipped out of the tar sands "ground zero" of Alberta.
WoodMac: US refiners, pipelines invest in Canadian tar sands
By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, May 30 -- The projected growth of Alberta oil sands production, which has in place some 1.75 trillion bbl of resources, is triggering a wave of investments, said Wood Mackenzie Ltd., Edinburgh.
Construction Nears For Keystone Pipeline
The start of construction is getting closer for an oil pipeline that could be built just 50 miles from the Hyperion project.
Officials with the Keystone crude oil pipeline say landowners with easements will be told when construction will get underway.
Sarah Metcalf of Aberdeen says land agents will make sure everyone is on the same page before they break ground and will even escort folks if they want to view the construction.
The tentative start date for the more than $5 billion project is later this summer.
Time to draw a line in the oil sands
May 01, 2008 04:30 AM
Gillian McEachern
Matt Price
Ontario is on the cusp of helping oil-sands emissions explode. Shell Canada wants permits to be granted by the end of this year for a new refinery in Sarnia to process oil from its oil-sands mines in Alberta for use in gas tanks across the GTA.
The company will be submitting its environmental assessment in June, but the governments of Canada and Ontario are already being pressed to make crucial decisions about the refinery.
May 15, 2008 8:28:00 PM MST
North Dakota judge denies attempt to halt Keystone oil pipeline
BISMARCK, N.D. _ A judge has refused to stop a crude-oil pipeline that TransCanada Corp. (TSX:TRP) wants to build in eastern North Dakota, saying state regulators considered adequate safety precautions in approving its route.
A project spokesman said construction should begin next week.
Save Our Soil (SOS) is a group of North Dakota people who are resisting the
Keystone pipeline by means of a ballot initiative that would let the voters
decide. More information: www.saveoursoil.net or www.saveoursoil.info.
Opponents line up against proposed Canada oil pipeline
by Bob Kelleher, Minnesota Public Radio
April 22, 2008
A new oil pipeline proposed in northern Minnesota is getting resistance from an unusual direction. Opponents say the large pipeline would contribute significantly to global warming -- not so much from the oil itself, but for how the oil is extracted in Canada.
Signed, sealed, delivered
Posted: April 21, 2008 // Indian Country Today
by: Stephanie Woodard
Environmental concerns plague fast-tracked oil pipeline
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - In March 2008, the U.S. Department of State issued a federal permit for the 2,000-mile TransCanada Keystone Pipeline, which would carry heavy crude oil from the oil sands of northern Alberta across seven U.S. states to Oklahoma. The document was signed, even though mandated government-to-government consultations with concerned Native nations were described as ''ongoing'' by the State Department.
Poor leadership nudged push for eminent domain (S Dakota)
Apr 20, 2008
Eminent domain is now front and center in the TransCanada Keystone Pipeline project.
Eminent domain, according to library.findlaw.com, is sometimes called "condemnation," and is the legal process by which a public body (and certain private bodies, such as utility companies, railroads, redevelopment corporations and -- in this case -- a pipeline company) is given the legal power to acquire private property for a use that has been declared to be public by a constitution, statute or ordinance.
Report: BP Sent Talking Points to Governor
InsideINdianaBusiness.com Report
The Office of Governor Mitch Daniels is denying any intervention on behalf of BP Whiting's request for an air permit after the Gary Post-Tribune reports that the company maintained contact with state officials. The Post-Tribune obtained materials include talking points, advance copies of newspaper ads and company responses to media inquiries.
The Post-Tribune also reports that BP met with state officials prior to a public hearing on the air permit.
Rain doesn't halt BP protest
By Erik Potter
(Chicago) Post-Tribune
April 21, 2008
Mother Earth was feeling a little crabby on Saturday's Earth Day activities in Whiting.
Rain pounded the area all day, but subsided long enough for the group of area residents and environmentalists to hold an outdoors rally at Whiting's Whihala County Park.
The group was protesting the $3.8 billion expansion of the BP's Whiting Refinery facility, which will allow it to process crude oil extracted from Canadian tar sand.
