Oil Sands Truth: Shut Down the Tar Sands

Energy

Energy and how it is captured and consumed is barely viable in tar sands production. While the amount of oil in places such as the tar sands in Alberta or the Orinoco Belt in Venezuela may have deposits of similar size to the reserves of countries such as Saudi Arabia or Iraq, the return of new energy after expending energy in production is not even close. In Iraq, the process of using one barrel of oil generates 100 new barrels. In the tar sands, estimates of 3 to 1 and even as low as 1.5 to 1 have been made. Offsetting the net energy loss would require minimally 25-30 tar sands facilities for one Saudi plant operating at the same capacity.

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Black gold's tarnish seen in Canada-- LA Times

Black gold's tarnish seen in Canada
Cash and jobs flow bountifully from Alberta's oil sands, but they come at a cost to the environment and native peoples.
By Tim Reiterman, Times Staff Writer
July 8, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-oilsands8jul08,0,732...
FORT MCMURRAY, CANADA — The Aurora Mine exudes the odor of petroleum and the look of untapped riches.

What they didn't want you to know: oil's dirty little secret

What they didn't want you to know: oil's dirty little secret
Copyright 2007 Lloyd's List International
All Rights Reserved
Lloyd's List // July 13, 2007

The theory of Peak Oil is that world production will peak and plateau
at a undefined point in time and then begin to decline, while demand
continues to rise Five decades after it was first brought to the
world's attention, the finite supply of oil and what this means is
only just being accepted

"IT'S the end of the world as we know it", sang US rock band REM, a

Confessions of a Anti-Nuke Jerk

June 12, 2007
Or Why It Feels Good to be Smeared by Patrick Moore
Confessions of a Anti-Nuke Jerk
http://counterpunch.org/wasserman06122007.html
By HARVEY WASSERMAN

Patrick Moore has called me a "jerk." He may not be Queen Elizabeth, but it feels like being made Knight of the Realm.

Moore is a supporter of nuclear power. He is also an advocate for clear-cutting forests, genetically modified foods and a wide range of other corporate eco-assaults. The companies behind them fund Moore's "consulting" agency, which appears to specialize in greenwashing.

"Stop the TransCanada Pipeline Now"

Landowners Oppose Pipeline
http://www.keloland.com/News/NewsDetail6371.cfm?Id=0,57795
06/11/2007

TransCanada's proposed Keystone pipeline consists of 1,845 miles of 30-inch pipeline running from Alberta Canada to Illinois. The proposed route has the line going through eastern South Dakota, where it's running into opposition from landowners.

TransCanada says it would pay for long and short term damage the pipeline may cause, but some landowners are concerned with more than the money.

World oil supplies are set to run out faster than expected, warn scientists

Scientists challenge major review of global reserves and warn that supplies will start to run out in four years' time
http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article2656034.ece
By Daniel Howden
Published: 14 June 2007

Scientists have criticised a major review of the world's remaining oil reserves, warning that the end of oil is coming sooner than governments and oil companies are prepared to admit.

Will the coming oil crisis be the end of suburbia?

Will the coming oil crisis be the end of suburbia?
By ERIC R. GREEN
http://www.chieftain.com/editorial/1183874885/6

Eric R Green is the library director at Lamar Community College and an adjunct sociology instructor. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone, West Africa.

Three years ago, when I started to teach Introduction to Sociology for Lamar Community College, my brother sent me the DVD, “The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream,” concerning the “coming oil crisis."

El Universal [Ven.]: Oil majors target Canada after leaving Venezuela

Oil majors target Canada after leaving Venezuela
http://english.eluniversal.com/2007/07/06/en_eco_art_oil-majors-target-c...

Oil giants have vowed to invest over USD 100 billion in projects to drill 174 billion barrels of oil in Alberta

Heavy crude oil in both Canada and Venezuela pose drilling technical difficulties and require costly enhancers to make them suitable for refineries, but unlike Venezuela, Canada offers political and tax stability

EL UNIVERSAL

Venezuelan Labourers, Big Oil Players to head to Fort Mac?

After Venezuela, Tar Sands no Quick Fix
http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSN2741612020070705
By Jeffrey Jones and Scott Haggett - Analysis

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - For Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips it may appear simple: shift efforts, people and resources to Canada's oil sands now that the oil majors have retreated from Venezuela. In reality, it's no simple matter.

The oil sands have their own set of risks: surging costs due to a squeezed labor force, technical complexity and a shrinking pool of attractive available properties.

Highway, (tarsands) Pipeline Route from Houston to Kitimat (BC)

Connector route roughed out

The sections marked in red show where logging roads already exist. The blue is the “to-do’ part of the proposed Connector.
http://www.northernsentinel.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=16&cat=23&id...

By Ryan Calvery

Jul 04 2007

Although a definitive right of way has never been carved out for a Houston-Kitimat road link, one resident has mapped out a plan that involves private investment.

"California clean air standards a danger to Cdn oil industry"

California clean air standards a danger to Cdn oil industry
2007-06-08
http://money.canoe.ca/News/Other/2007/06/08/4243714-ap.html

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Clean-air agreements signed by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and two Canadian provinces could dramatically slow oil production in the Alberta tar sands.

Ontario and British Columbia have agreed to adhere to California's low-carbon fuel standards, which means the provinces will have to curb oil production sources that create high amounts of global-warming emissions.