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.
November 23, 2007
What in Tar Nation?
Life among the tar sands
by Maya Rolbin-Ghanie
The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca
A plume of smoke from a Syncrude processing plant, viewed from Fort Mackay. Photo: Dru Oja Jay
We leave Fort McMurray and hitch a ride to Fort MacKay, a Native community 40kms north, where we stay for three days.
"The system of slavery is like holding a wolf by its ears: you don't like
it, but you don't dare let go."
- Thomas Jefferson
The oil sands and slavery
By Frederick Douglass*
It was once the case that slaves were the most valuable asset in America. As the horrors of slavery began to be documented and a concern that this was a horrible practice spread, the justifications for continued slavery sound eerily familiar to the justifications for the continuation and massive expansion of the oil sands.
Warning: Depressing content.
Center for American Progress
AlterNet (September 29 2007)
Say Goodbye to French Wines. Wacky temperatures and rain cycles brought
on by global warming are threatening something very important: Wine.
Scientists believe global warming will "shift viticultural regions
toward the poles, cooler coastal zones and higher elevations". What that
means in regular language: Get ready to say bye-bye to French Bordeaux
and hello to British champagne. [LA Times]
Say Goodbye to Light and Dry Wines. Warmer temperatures mean grapes in
November 16, 2007
Record year for Nunavut oil spills
Mishaps pour 225,000 litres of poisonous material in territory
CHRIS WINDEYER
One big oil mishap on Brevoort Island this past January was enough to make 2007 a record year for spills in Nunavut.
Nearly 225,000 litres of oil were spilled into Nunavut's environment last year, the highest total recorded for Nunavut since division. The figures are found in Ikummatiit, the Government of Nunavut's energy strategy, which was tabled in the Legislative Assembly late last month.
This article is interesting not only for the garbage it states, such as: "Environmental groups argue the massive tankers have no business travelling in the pristine and wildlife-rich waters, which they believe are protected by a more than three-decade-old moratorium on such traffic.
"The primary beneficiary of these projects is not British Columbians -- it's Albertans and Americans," says Will Horter, executive director of the Dogwood Initiative [...]"
Feds target medical whistleblower: doctor claims
Mike De Souza , CanWest News Service
Published: Monday, November 12, 2007
Dr. John O'Connor first suspected something was wrong a few years ago after discovering a rare form of cancer in a small northern Alberta community of 1,200 people.
He recognized the illness since it was the same one that had claimed the life of his father in Ireland more than 15 years earlier. He had never expected to see it again and was alarmed to find it in at least five different patients.
The Richest First Nation in Canada
Ecological and political life in Fort MacKay
by Macdonald Stainsby
The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca
The primarily Indigenous, mostly Cree (also 'Chipewyan Dene') community of Fort MacKay--just north of the internationally famous tar sand "boom" city of Fort McMurray--is said to be the "richest First Nation in Canada." The alleged wealth is largely due to the fact that the community is surrounded by, and on top of, tar sand.
Study Finds Carcinogens in Water Near Alberta Oil Sands Projects
By IAN AUSTEN
Published: November 9, 2007
OTTAWA, Nov. 7 — High levels of carcinogens and toxic substances have been found in fish, water and sediment downstream from Alberta’s huge oil sands projects, according to a new study.
The 75-page report, written by Kevin P. Timoney, an ecologist with Treeline Environmental Research, was commissioned by the local health authority of Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, where many residents say they believe the oil sands developments to the south are damaging their health.
New report finds elevated arsenic risk in Fort Chipewyan
By MATTHEW HEINDL
Fort McMurray Today staff
Friday November 09, 2007
A new study that claims high levels of arsenic and mercury are in the Athabasca River has many calling for a halt to oilsands growth, but two Alberta government departments are not supporting its findings.
More than 70 people in Fort Chipewyan met Wednesday night to hear Dr. Kevin Timoney of Treeline Ecological Research deliver his findings on river sediment deposits downstream of the oilsands.
By RENATO GANDIA, SUN MEDIA
High levels of cancer-causing toxins are being found in areas downstream of Fort McMurray's oilsands, says a study commissioned by residents of Alberta's oldest community.
Waters in Fort Chipewyan contain high levels of arsenic, the fish are contaminated with high levels of mercury and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons - another pollutant - are higher than they should be, said Kevin Timoney.
Timoney is the ecologist who studied the waters and sediments in the Peace-Athabasca Delta near Fort Chipewyan, 610 air km northeast of Edmonton.
