Tarsands Infrastructure: South/ East [US & Can]

Sadly, this form of analysis is a pipe dream, no pipeline pun intended. In the scenario that the Democratic Party of the US actually tackling the automobile industry for mileage requirements, it would first of all be many years before any significant portion of the vehicles on the road were of any consequential difference. Second, the production of all these new cars would require energy, and the alternative energies we hear about (Ethanol, for example) do not reduce but increase reliance on fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions-- you just don't have to see them as directly.

This story, a small community of desperately poor people who at first will welcome tar sand extraction as a possible panacea against the ravages of historical colonialism and modern poverty, is not a new one. The location is, however, and it signifies a new escalation in tarsand production. It is interesting noting their concerns about capacity in pipes that already exist in Alberta. The possibility of building the infrastructure in Saskatchewan will add another massive dimension to what is already the largest such project in the history of the Earth.

Enbridge in race to move oil south to the U.S. Gulf Coast
http://communities.canada.com/nationalpost/blogs/tradingdesk/archive/200...

Enbridge Inc. will likely take the acquisition route as opposed to building from greenfield in its race with other Canadian pipeliners planning ways to move Alberta crude south to the U.S. Gulf Coast (USGC), according to Desjardins analyst Daniel Shteyn.

"We view M&A as the most likely, given cost and speed to market, and believe Enbridge will be the ultimate winner in this particular race." he said in a research note.

Enbridge pushing plan to pipe oil to Texas

DAVID EBNER
Posted AT 6:24 PM EDT ON 04/04/07
CALGARY
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070404.wenbridge040...

Enbridge Inc. is pushing ahead with a plan to move Canadian oil to Texas, preparing to present a detailed plan to potential customers by the end of June.

“Getting oil to the Gulf Coast is very important for Canadian producers,” Patrick Daniel, chief executive officer of Enbridge, said in an interview Wednesday.

Enbridge eyes Gulf route
Demand growing; Buying assets seen as better plan than building pipeline
Jon Harding, Financial Post
Published: Thursday, April 05, 2007

CALGARY - Enbridge Inc. is accelerating plans to satisfy a growing thirst for Canadian crude among refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast and would rather buy existing assets in the United States than build a $4-billion direct pipeline link between Alberta and Texas.

With the land already compromised South and the tarsands themselves so vast and ugly, these are the projects that we can safely overlook or play down, right?

On the homepage of Enbridge, you can find this declaration about the Spearhead Pipeline:

"Enbridge intends to reverse the flow of the pipeline to transport
Canadian crude oil south from the company's mainline system at Chicago
to the storage and refining hub at Cushing, Oklahoma."

Yet another pipeline project that is absolutely dependent on the existence of the tar sands expansion.

-Macdonald
--
Open season extended for Enbridge expansion
Sat, March 31, 2007
http://calsun.canoe.ca/Business/2007/03/31/3879325-sun.html
By CP

Like the bulk of the proposed pipelines to head south after leaving the Tarsands, this pipeline project run by Enbridge is actually taking heavy bitumen to be refined in the southern 48. That isn't merely to keep the corporations in the southern US functioning, but as the rest of the world's capacity shrinks while demand grows, as it is wont to do, this is the only feasible way that the US Dep't of Energy's strategy of bleeding the Albertan tarsands as fast as possible can actually get refined, for there would be no way to construct the needed infrastructure fast enough.

This pipeline is being challenged by the Alberta Federation of Labour and is now approved to help offset the increased capacity needed for the Tar Sands to continue to grow, such as the recently approved Kearl Project-- now Federally litigated against by groups such as the Pembina Institute and Sierra Legal. Stop these pipelines and stop the tar sands; Stop the tar sands and stop the Keystone pipeline. Imperial Oil is also pushing for the Mackenzie Gas Project, where the energy would help this Kearl Project send oil into the Keystone pipeline. Break the chain and stop them all.

-M

The only thing that is not understood for public consumption is that Enbridge and Trans Canada are not really in competition. These pipe plans, when taken into account along side the recent US nudge to the Federal Government of Canada to heighten production by five times, are not competing but rather complementary with the other pipelines being proposed to move heavy bitumen. This is an indicator of the sheer size of these plans, the scope of the tarsands and what we must do to really effect stopping them.