Animals

Offshore oil a no-go for B.C. despite the value
Barbara Yaffe
Vancouver Sun
Saturday, February 23, 2008

Early this month Ottawa invited bids from oil companies for further exploration of the environmentally sensitive Beaufort Sea in the Arctic.

And, of course, everyone knows development of Alberta's oilsands is going gangbusters. This, despite the fact environmental groups are sounding serious alarm bells about the devastation the project north of Edmonton is generating in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, use of valuable natural gas and water pollution.

Oil patch split over proposal for partial moratorium
NORVAL SCOTT
February 25, 2008

CALGARY -- A business-led lobbying effort to create a partial moratorium on oil sands development in order to free up conservation land has divided Canada's major energy companies, while a government decision on the issue will likely be delayed until after next Monday's provincial election.

Major oil producers - led by Petro-Canada Corp., Suncor Inc., Husky Energy Ltd., Shell Canada and Imperial Oil - have for the first time called on Alberta to slow development in the Athabasca region.

Pipeline approvals ease strain on network
NORVAL SCOTT
Globe and Mail Update

February 24, 2008 at 10:39 PM EST

CALGARY — Pipeline companies are set to build the projects needed to transport higher levels of crude production from Alberta's oil sands, resolving the question of how energy firms will bring their future output to market.

Last week, the National Energy Board – Canada's energy regulator – approved two projects being proposed by Calgary-based Enbridge Inc., including its giant Alberta Clipper pipeline that would allow increased exports to Wisconsin.

Arctic ‘Doomsday Vault’ Filled With World’s Seeds Comes to Life
by Pierre-Henry Deshayes in Longyearbyen, Norway

AN Arctic “doomsday vault” filled with samples of the world’s most important seeds will be inaugurated in Norway today.

0224 03The vault aims to provide humankind with a Noah’s Ark of food in the event of a global catastrophe.

Fri, February 22, 2008
Gateway pipeline back on track
UPDATED: 2008-02-22 01:25:47 MST

Enbridge will transport product from Alberta oilsands to B.C. coast

By MARKUS ERMISCH, SUN MEDIA

Pipeline company Enbridge Inc. has picked up construction pace on the Gateway Pipeline after slowing down the project in late 2006.

Construction is expected to finish between 2012 and 2014, said company spokeswoman Jennifer Varey, noting that construction costs will most likely come in above the original $4 billion.

Cost pressures primarily stem from higher labour prices and materials costs.

Enbridge rekindles oilsands pipeline plan

Jeffrey Jones, Reuters Published: Thursday, February 21, 2008

CALGARY -- Enbridge Inc. has rekindled plans for a $4-billion pipeline to Canada's West Coast in response to demand from producers and refiners wanting oilsands-derived crude shipped to Asia, Enbridge's chief executive said Thursday.

Enbridge, the country's second-largest pipeline operator, has convinced enough potential customers to fund the remaining costs to get the Gateway pipeline project to the regulatory approval stage, CEO Pat Daniel said.

Matt Price and Allan Adam

Citizen Special

Thursday, February 21, 2008
Todd Korol, Reuters

Canadians are becoming familiar with the scale of destruction in the
tarsands, something that First Nations of the region have known for some
time now.

And people around the world are learning why our country has taken such an
obstructionist role on global warming. Canada and the Bush administration
stand alone against the rest of the world because with the tarsands we are
housing the single most destructive project anywhere on Earth, and the
Americans are getting the oil.

Pipeline holdouts unlikely to buckle
By CP

FORT SIMPSON, N.W.T. -- The new leader of the last aboriginal group to hold out against a northern natural gas pipeline says he isn't likely to bring the Dehcho First Nation on board the $16-billion project any time soon.

Gerald Antoine, chosen last week as interim chief, said yesterday he's not convinced joining a consortium of northern aboriginals that would own a one-third share in the Mackenzie Valley project would serve his people's best interests.

Stelmach denies governments ignoring oilsands health woes
PC leader listens to concerns from native spokesman
Darcy Henton, with files from Mike De Souza, Canwest News Service, Edmonton Journal
Published: Saturday, February 16, 2008

Just after Tory Leader Ed Stelmach derided a new report that calls Alberta's oilsands "the most destructive development on earth," he was confronted by a Mikisew Cree who's worried the megaprojects are poisoning his people.