Oil Sands Truth: Shut Down the Tar Sands

Animals

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.

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Minnesota and Alberta Tar Sands

By Kevin Karner, TC Daily Planet

October 11, 2010

A September 22 forum at St. Thomas University, Alberta Tar Sands: Minnesota's Dirty Oil Secret explored Minnesota's dependence on the oil sands of Alberta.

It goes against our nature; but the left has to start asserting its own values

The progressive attempt to appeal to self-interest has been a catastrophe. Empathy, not expediency, must drive our campaigns

o George Monbiot
o guardian.co.uk, Monday 11 October 2010

So here we are, forming an orderly queue at the slaughterhouse gate. The punishment of the poor for the errors of the rich, the abandonment of universalism, the dismantling of the shelter the state provides: apart from a few small protests, none of this has yet brought us out fighting.

NASA Scientist Urges Canada Not To Touch Tar Sands

NASA Scientist Urges Canada Not To Touch Oil Sands
October 6, 2010

AHN News Staff

Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada (AHN) - Another nail was driven into Alberta’s oil sands industry on Tuesday after a top NASA scientist advised the province to leave the tar fields alone. James Hansen of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies gave the advice to a panel reviewing the proposed Total E&P $9-billion plan to build the Joslyn North Mine.

Alberta will act if panel finds tar sands monitoring 'unacceptable': Renner

Alberta will act if panel finds oilsands monitoring 'unacceptable': Renner

Province appoints six scientists to independently assess water-monitoring data

By Karen Kleiss, edmontonjournal.com October 8, 2010

EDMONTON — Alberta's environment minister says the province is prepared to act if scientists reviewing monitoring programs find "unacceptable" environmental impacts in the oilsands region.

Utahns tar the tar sands

Utahns tar the tar sands
Denver Nicks | Oct 01, 2010 03:45 PM
High Country News

Mining of tar sands in Alberta Canada has left a landscape of razed boreal forest dotted with pools of toxic wastewater. It also produced 1.49 million barrels of crude oil last year – every day. Now, the first-ever commercial tar sands mine proposed in the United States is facing its second legal challenge from Western environmentalists.

Tribal Councils in U.S. and Canada Uniting Against Keystone Pipeline

Tribal Councils in U.S. and Canada Uniting Against Oil Sands Pipeline
By Elizabeth McGowan at SolveClimate

Thu Oct 7, 2010

Editor's Note: In late September, SolveClimate News reporter Elizabeth McGowan traveled to Nebraska to find out more about the Keystone XL pipeline that TransCanada plans to build to carry crude oil from the tar sands of Alberta to Gulf Coast refineries in Texas. This is the fifth in a series. Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 here.

"Is a tar sands truce possible?"

The money quote is here:

"Although Suzuki expressed surprise at Coutu's overtures, CAPP vice-president Greg Stringham says such meetings between companies and environmentalists happen all the time."

Mercury in eggs downstream from tar sands grows 50 per cent: study

Mercury in eggs downstream from oil sands grows 50 per cent: study
Bob Weber
Edmonton— The Canadian Press
Published Friday, Oct. 01, 2010

A study by Environment Canada indicates levels of toxic mercury in the eggs of water birds downstream from the oil-sands industry seem to have grown by nearly 50 per cent over the last three decades.

The study, one of the few to compare the region's ecosystem before and after its industrial boom, doesn't tie the increased mercury specifically to energy development.

Canada announces tar sands water review panel members

Canada announces oil sands water review panel members
By Stephanie Dearing.
+
Canada's Environment Minister, Jim Prentice, unveiled his picks for the six person review panel he had announced he would set up. The panel is to review all the Alberta oil sands water monitoring information.

Prentice's follow-through on his announcement to form the panel in September caught Alberta off balance, said The Tyee's Andrew Nikiforuk. The federal government of Canada has had a 'hands-off' approach when it comes to the oil sands developments.

Great Lakes Region: Refinery emissions could pollute our water

Refinery emissions could pollute our water
Published On Sun Sep 12 2010

David Israelson Special to the Star

As Canadians look with dismay at the aftermath of the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico, it turns out that’s not the only place we need to worry about leaking oil.

What happened in the Gulf has implications for what happens to water in Canada, right here on the Great Lakes. There’s ever-increasing pressure to supply the oil-thirsty U.S. with more product from Alberta’s tar sands.