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.
China warms to B.C. coal
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=d73404f8-...
Transportation problems in Australia create opportunity for West Coast producers
Joanne Lee-Young, Vancouver Sun
Published: Monday, June 04, 2007
China's steel-makers are hungry for coal as the world's fastest-growing economy continues to overheat, and that is fuelling Chinese interest in B.C.'s coal resources, which have traditionally served Asian markets other than China.
Peak oil: A detailed and transparent analysis
(the article at the link provided below includes many graphs to help understand the issue ever more clearly)
by Phil Hart and Chris Skrebowski
http://www.energybulletin.net/30537.html
Tankers sailing into Kitimat
Environmentalists claim ban being violated
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=41e59307-af32-4f58-...
Christina Montgomery, The Province
Published: Sunday, June 03, 2007
Transport Canada has confirmed that, since January 2006, 14 tankers have sailed through the area covered by a federal tanker-traffic moratorium to deliver condensate -- a toxic solvent headed for Alberta's tar sands -- to Kitimat.
Baghdad Burns, Calgary Booms
By Naomi Klein // The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070618/klein
The invasion of Iraq has set off what could be the largest oil boom in
history. All the signs are there: multinationals free to gobble up
national firms at will, ship unlimited profits home, enjoy leisurely
"tax holidays" and pay a laughable 1 percent in royalties to the
government.
This isn't the boom in Iraq sparked by the proposed new oil law--that
will come later. This boom is already in full swing, and it is
Opinions differ on safety of possible nuclear plant
Last Updated: Monday, May 28, 2007 | 11:42 AM MT
CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2007/05/28/alberta-nuclear.html
A sustainable energy advocate is warning about the possible safety drawbacks of building a nuclear power plant in Alberta, but an engineering expert said the risks are small.
"There are all sorts of different ways in which material can leave the plant under both normal operating conditions, accident conditions or the possibility of a security incident," said Mark Winfield of the Pembina Institute.
Nuclear Power Alternative in Alberta Raising Questions of Appropriateness
http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=32318
By Dina O'Meara
27 May 2007 at 09:02 PM GMT-04:00
CALGARY (CP) -- Nuclear power might be all the rage for some interested parties in Alberta's oil patch, but others question the need for such controversial power generation in an industry that requires more steam than electricity.
Alberta finance minister feeling nervous about energy royalty review
Published: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 | 9:31 PM ET
Canadian Press: JIM MACDONALD
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/business/070530/b0530128A.html
EDMONTON (CP) - With many Albertans feeling left in the dust by the current energy boom, Finance Minister Lyle Oberg says he's nervous about an ongoing review of billions of dollars in annual resource royalties.
Oberg concedes it's the kind of issue a government can get beaten over the head with, especially if voters don't have confidence in the way the review is handled.
The shocking price of using up fossil fuels
Emissions would stay in the atmosphere for more than 5,000 years, scientist says
Margaret Munro, CanWest News Service
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=e605ed94-9c7f-42fa...
Published: Thursday, May 31, 2007
Burning all known reserves of fossil fuels, from Alberta's tarsands to China's vast stores of coal, would have much graver long-term consequences than previously thought, according to climate scientists.
Now more than ever: Don't negotiate the pipeline, stop it. We have the best political environment, using their financial environment, to help protect the Deh Cho Valley environment from being used to kill the Athabascan environment. in other words, not since Thomas Berger was in the Valley has their been such coherent, palpable opposition to the construction of the MGP. People in the north know that climate change is real; their neighbours houses are washing into the Arctic Ocean and birds such as robins and barn owls that have never been in the north before are flying about these days.
CANOE -- CNEWS: Macleans - Harper embraces the nuclear future Page 1
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Rogers/Macleans/2007/05/03/pf-4150972.html
May 3, 2007
Harper embraces the nuclear future
Climate-change anxiety breathes new life into nuclear power,
and shifts Ottawa's plans
By JOHN GEDDES -- Maclean's
Stephen Harper would seem an unlikely pitchman for nuclear
power. When the Prime Minister launches into his familiar spiel
about Canada as an emerging "energy superpower," we all think
we know what he's talking about - he's an Alberta MP, after all, and
