POLITICS-US: Canada's Tar Sands Lobbyists Focus on Democrats
By Chris Arsenault

VANCOUVER, Sep 2 (IPS) - As the U.S. election campaign kicks into overdrive, Canadian politicians and oil executives are stepping up lobbying efforts to make sure whoever controls the White House keeps purchasing notoriously dirty oil from the Alberta tar sands.

U.S. foundations use money to pursue co-optation against Canadian environmental group
Tue 2. Sep 2008
by Dru Oja Jay, Dominion writer

Since major foundations in the US began funding environmental groups in the late 1980s, many grassroots environmental activists have sounded the alarm about the rise of the “Big Greens.” Featuring six-figure salaries and foundation funding, critics say the large environmental NGOs co-opt grassroots movements and exercise control over what issues are brought up.

It's the Oil, stupid!
Noam Chomsky
Khaleej Times, July 8, 2008
The deal just taking shape between Iraq's Oil Ministry and four Western oil companies raises critical questions about the nature of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq — questions that should certainly be addressed by presidential candidates and seriously discussed in the United States, and of course in occupied Iraq, where it appears that the population has little if any role in determining the future of their country.

"Clarity", meaning an assurance that no changes will be made to the regulatory approval process or environmental requirements, is demanded by major corporations who wish to be able to produce in the tar sands without oversight-- i.e., they "demand" the maintenance of the status quo. Nexen is one of the "partners" of the Canadian Boreal Initiative (CBI), a grouping that partners with many of the largest corporations that exist, receiving most of their funding through Ducks Unlimited Canada through Ducks Unlimited in the United States-- where the money originates with the Pew Foundation.

Macdonald Stainsby gives http://h2opodcast.com/ an overview of the tar sands, their history in development, why now, the connection to the war on terror & Iraq, trade deals, expansion of the temporary foreign worker programs in such development, violation of indigenous nations' self-determination and environmental destruction unparalleled in the world. (Part I of II)

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Part II of II:

Macdonald Stainsby gives http://h2opodcast.com/ an overview of the tar sands, their history in development, why now, the connection to the war on terror & Iraq, trade deals, expansion of the temporary foreign worker programs in such development, violation of indigenous nations' self-determination and environmental destruction unparalleled in the world. Part II of II.

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The International Boreal Conservation Campaign is yet another front group of the Pew Charitable Trusts/Sunoco, the very same folks who brought you the original "Great Canadian Oil Sands Project" in 1967 (now Suncor). The focus in their "messaging" about ensuring energy security, perhaps for their Sunoco refineries now being converted to process dirty oil in Ohio and eventually Philadelphia, is telling indeed.

- Tarpit Pete

Talk is cheap, skeptics say of oil sands message
Tue Jun 24, 2008 7:37pm EDT

By Jeffrey Jones - Analysis

Making mention of the Pew Foundation/Charitable Trusts here is ridiculously over-simplified. The groups that the Pew fund, through the money from Sunoco (who continue to refine tar sands oil and make multiple billions), are overwhelmingly among the most tame and market driven ones-- deflecting actual campaigning against the tar sands. The story below, while it contains valuable nuggets of information, must be making those who misdirect resistance to the tar sands smile.

--M

Environmental groups blacken reputation of Alberta oilsands

For your daily Greenwash dose... Suncor sympathetic over ducks... and not a hint of sympathy for the loss of other human lives.

--M

Suncor CEO defends record on environment
Rick George sympathizes over duck loss
Dan Healing, with a file from Shaun Polczer, Calgary Herald
Published: Saturday, May 10, 2008

A speech about the business outlook for Alberta's oilsands industry Friday morning turned into a defence of its environmental record for Suncor Energy Inc. CEO Rick George.

Could it be because Syncrude donated $300,000 to Ducks Unlimited in 2001 and that Suncor recently donated another $1.5 million?? After all, Ducks Unlimited only wants to help industry to "soften" its impact on the environment. Never mind all the other cash donations from Weyerhaeuser, Alpac, and Enbridge....

- Tarpit Pete

DU Conservation Awards presented to Alberta Chamber of Resources Companies