Animal habitats and health are affected by tar sands production, whether from loss of habitat to any of the infrastructure developments across the continent, or through changes in the atmosphere such as melting polar ice caps in the Arctic brought on by out of control C02 emissions. Poisoning waterways, the food supply and the air in the immediate and not-so immediate surroundings has led to drops and even disappearances of species near pipelines, platforms and other infrastructure of the tarsands.
Alta. oilsands cause acid rain
Report issued by environmental group warns of 'most destructive project on Earth'
Matthew Kruchak and James Wood, The StarPhoenix
Published: Saturday, February 16, 2008
Acid rain caused by Alberta oilsands production is pouring down on Saskatchewan and if governments don't take note, any oilsands development in this province will contribute to the "most destructive project on Earth," the Environmental Defence organization warns.
Environmentalists' report to call for Ottawa to act on tar sands
BILL CURRY
From Friday's Globe and Mail
February 15, 2008
OTTAWA - Alberta's oil sands are the most destructive project on Earth,
causing environmental damage well beyond provincial borders, a new report
says.
>From acid rain falling in Saskatchewan to toxic pollution spewing from
Ontario oil refineries, a report to be released this morning by
Toronto-based Environmental Defence calls on Ottawa to act where Alberta
will not.
The environmentalists will be joined by two Alberta native leaders, who will
Dear Editors of Winnipeg Free Press
First of all, I thank you for sending a reporter to our Treaty One Press
Conference. I would also like to clarify some of the comments makes
regarding the issue in the article and then for the benefit of the readers
to restate some of the conference information left out of the article as
written by Ms. Welch.
"The First Nations hope to parlay those consultations into a funding deal
that would give the bands a source of revenue, similar to property taxes
collected on the pipeline by rural municipalities."
Chiefs want pipeline royalties
By Paul Turenne
A group of southern Manitoba chiefs is asking the federal court to overturn Ottawa’s decision to allow a massive pipeline project to be built in the province because the chiefs say the government did not fulfill its duty to consult them about it.
TransCanada’s Keystone pipeline project, approved by the National Energy Board and the federal cabinet last fall, would pump more than half a million barrels of oil per day from Alberta to Illinois and Oklahoma.
Native bands ask court to block pipeline Updated at 4:41 PM
By Mary Agnes Welch
Some Manitoba bands have asked the court to quash a plan to build an oil pipeline through southern Manitoba, saying the federal government failed to consult with First Nations or offer compensation.
WBNP Officials and Native Leaders Address Water Quality in Peace-Athabasca Delta
By GABRIEL ZARATE, SRJ Reporter 23.JAN.08
Ongoing concerns about water quality and possible contamination brought officials from Wood Buffalo National Park (WBNP) and regional native government representatives to Fort Chipewyan Wednesday, Jan. 16. The Peace-Athabasca Delta was the focus of talks, as it lies downstream from the oil sands extraction operations of Fort McMurray.
by Chris Maser
Culture Change (January 06 2008)
Editor's note: This is Chris Maser's Part Three of his series for
Culture Change. I ate this one up, because ever since I read a 1987
article in Discover magazine by Jared Diamond, about hunter-gatherers'
working only a few hours a day a few days a week, I've been aware that
our modern way of life is not what it's cracked up to be. In Maser's
article there is solid anthropological insight applicable to our current
challenge as a dysfunctional society facing extinction. In his eighteen
Feds say Keystone won’t harm environment
Janell Cole N.D. Capitol Bureau
Published Friday, January 18, 2008
BISMARCK — The TransCanada Keystone Pipeline “would result in limited adverse environmental impacts” in North Dakota and other states it will pass through, the U.S. government says.
The State Department has released its final environmental impact statement on the project, though it will still accept public comment until approximately Feb. 11, then issue a final order, according to a cover letter to “colleagues and stakeholders” dated Jan. 11.
What is it that prevents Pembina Institute and WWF from just saying "Stop!" to the tar sands instead of just lobbying to improve their "environmental performance." Maybe it is something to do with the fact that they both receive multi-million dollar funding from the Pew Charitable Trusts, whose parent companies Sun Oil/Sunoco built the first tar sands project in 1967 and who continue to refine large amounts of sythetic tar sands crude oil in Ohio and are planning to extend tar sands supply pipelines as far east as their refineries in Philadelphia.
- Tarpit Pete
TransCanada wins bid to build natural gas pipeline out of Alaska
January 4, 2008 - 18:57
By: Jeannette Lee, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Calgary-based TransCanada Corp. (TSX:TRP) has beat out four competitors in a bid to build a natural gas pipeline out of Alaska that would supply energy to millions of consumers throughout North America, state officials announced Friday.
