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.
Secret South Dakota Project Makes National Headlines
May 25, 2007
http://www.ktiv.com/News/index.php?ID=13386
It's been the talk of South Dakota. What's the big... "super secret" project in the works for Union County? That question is now in the national spotlight... after making the front page of the Wall Street Journal.
Check out this headline in Friday's Wall Street Journal. It reads... "In South Dakota, Farming Community Tracks a Gorilla."
Oil Sands Gaining Ground With Rising Costs Of Crude Oil
5/21/2007
http://www.oilandgasonline.com/content/news/article.asp?DocID=%7B3902492...
Palo Alto, CA - As prices and global demand for crude oil continue to increase, the North American oil sands market is poised for remarkable growth. Recent technological developments have considerably reduced the extraction and upgrading costs of bitumen. This, along with high crude oil prices, has made oil sands an attractive proposition for oil companies.
Canadians need to "reel in" Big Oil: The Need for Law Reform
http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article.php/20070526122247132
by PatriotPete/bcpolitics.ca Peter Dimitrov, May 26, 2007
Move over Fort Mac, a new boomtown is born
On the surface Grande Prairie looks unremarkable, but its riches of oil and gas have brought roaring growth
DAVID EBNER
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070521.RGRANDEPRAIRIE...
May 21, 2007
GRANDE PRAIRIE, ALTA. -- On the surface, Grande Prairie, with a population nearing 50,000, looks unremarkable. Most buildings are a couple of storeys high, and the only striking feature of the richest neighbourhood in town - called Wedgewood - is the number of three-vehicle garages.
Shell eyes nuclear power in oil sands
New technology that extracts bitumen from limestone demands huge quantities of electricity
DAVID EBNER
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070521.wxrnuclear22...
Globe and Mail
May 21, 2007
Calgary — — Royal Dutch Shell PLC [RDS.B-N]is looking at nuclear power to support its experimental oil sands ambitions, on which it has already placed a bet of more than half a billion dollars.
It should come as no surprise that this move is "welcomed" in such reactionary fashion; radicals act, reactionary anti-movements react. Here is just such an ideological reaction below.
Orinoco Seizure by Hugo Chavez Threatens Global Oil Stability
Martin Hutchinson on May 18th, 2007
http://www.dailyreckoning.com.au/orinoco/2007/05/18/
Ottawa 'strong-armed' Akaitcho in land claim: Bevington
Last Updated: Thursday, May 17, 2007 | 3:16 PM CT
CBC News
The federal government forced the Akaitcho Dene First Nations into not claiming areas where exploration companies want to look for uranium, Western Arctic NDP MP Dennis Bevington alleged Thursday.
Whitecourt is a small town near massive (mock) oil development. It's also a town known for helping establish the "precedent" of industrial development. If the nuclear proponents get one reactor approved somewhere to feed their insatiable drive for (tar sands mock) oil, then it will grow politically available ten thousand times higher, and our job gets worse.
What shall we do?
--M
Energy Alberta talks nuclear power with Whitecourt residents
This article is quite notable in that it comes from Qatar, and it is basically a Middle Eastern tip of the hat to peak oil. As the world continues to search for new sources of bitumen to make [mock] oil from the tarsands, this description of the mini rush for nation-states and companies to diversify their portfolios to include tarsands oil is yet more indication less and less people in positions to know about it believe that oil prices will drop below "economical levels" for the tarsands. That is roughly $30 barrels.
--M
More firms moving into costly oil sands
PUC To Hear Oil Pipeline Proposal
http://www.keloland.com/News/NewsDetail6371.cfm?Id=0,56895
05/09/2007
The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission has scheduled four public hearings in June along the route of a proposed oil pipeline that would run through the eastern part of the state.
The TransCanada Keystone Pipeline would carry oil from a terminal at Hardisty, Alberta, to Illinois to supply US refineries. The 1,800-mile pipeline would enter the United States in North Dakota and also cross South Dakota, Nebraska, a corner of Kansas, and Missouri before reaching Illinois.
