Forests lose more trees and habitat to pipeline “right of way” cuts and tar pit building than to clearcuts. With minor variation, pipelines go the direct route. Through the strip mining of the land that contains tarsand petroleum and through pipeline construction to accomodate, only the Amazon Basin in Brazil would see larger rates of deforestation than the Boreal forest cover surrendered to the tarsands. Roads often accompany pipelines, as do various other developments. Hundreds of thousands of miles of forests, all combined, have been lost to infrastructure built to accommodate tarsands operations. Now the industry wants to build two approximately 1200 km long Mackenzie and Gateway pipelines as well as 2700 km's from Alaska's North Slope to accomodate tarsand oil production.
Dirty Oil, Dirty Money: Who is Funding the Tar Sands Resistance?
by Sandra Cuffe
November 26, 2010
Vancouver Media Co-op
After years of online discussion and personal debates, anti-tar sands activists and Indigenous community members are taking the controversy around the role of Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations (ENGOs) in resistance movements to a public forum.
The Whole World is Downstream
Community members say negative impacts of the tar sands have a global reach
by Sandra Cuffe
November 28, 2010
Vancouver Media Co-op
Community members impacted by tar sands development came together in Edmonton this weekend to make it explicit that the tar sands isn't just an issue in Alberta, or even just in Canada. Climate justice activists have long made the point that the tar sands are a leading driver of emissions worldwide.
Tailings pond passes second inspection
Toxic sludge leak story discredited
By Dan Healing, Calgary Herald November 16, 2010
CALGARY - A Tuesday morning tour of an oilsands tailings pond that CBC News claimed appeared to be leaking toxic sludge confirms that it is not, according to Alberta Environment.
"It confirmed what the ERCB (Energy Resources Conservation Board) confirmed (Monday), that all is being done as required in their approval and there is no release," said department spokesman Mark Cooper in an interview.
Mackenzie pipeline report OK'd by N.W.T., Ottawa
Last Updated: Monday, November 15, 2010
CBC News
The proposed $16.2-billion Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline is a step closer to reality after the federal and Northwest Territories governments agreed Monday with most of the recommendations set out by a review panel last year.
They said they can eliminate or mitigate any potential adverse impacts if the 1,200-kilometre natural gas pipeline goes ahead.
Arctic seen as possible shipping route for massive industrial components
NATHAN VANDERKLIPPE
CALGARY— Globe and Mail Update
Published Sunday, Nov. 14, 2010
As protesters clog a new corridor built to transport the massive building blocks of a new oil sands mine, a small Northwest Territories company has suddenly found itself showered with interest by Asian companies looking for an alternative.
Alta. tailings pond to get federal inspection
Last Updated: Monday, November 15, 2010
CBC News
Environment Canada officials will be in northern Alberta on Tuesday to inspect a tailings pond operated by Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. that was the subject of a CBC News investigation.
Federal Environment Minister John Baird made the announcement in the House of Commons on Monday, in response to a question from Alberta NDP MP Linda Duncan.
Effort to keep big rigs off Montana highways continues to spread
By KIM BRIGGEMAN of the Missoulian missoulian.com
October 31, 2010
From grassroots to Manhattan, the battle to keep hundreds of big rigs off the two-lane highways of Montana and Idaho continues to mushroom.
What began early last spring as an energetic local effort centered in Missoula spread quickly over Lolo Pass into rural Idaho. It has since reached across state lines and into the war rooms of an impressive array of environmental groups.
Oil and water cannot be allowed to mix along B.C.'s stunning coastline
By Tyler McCreary
| October 29, 2010
Beneath Alaska, between the islands of Haida Gwaii and the northern British Columbia coast, is the wide but shallow Hecate Strait. Originally termed Seegaay by the Haida, Captain George Henry Richards, affixed the name Hecate to the strait in the early 1860s. Hecate was a Greek goddess associated with magic and crossroads, a governess of the wilderness and liminal regions where the spirits interact with the living.
350 More Ducks Killed In Canada's Toxic Tar Sands Tailing Ponds
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 10.28.10
Science & Technology
Just days after Syncrude was fined over C$3 million for , there are more duck deaths to report. At last count, the Vancouver Sun reports 350 ducks have been killed.
The birds landed on the Mildred Lake tailing pond in northern Alberta and had to be euthanized after coming into contact with tarry bitumen floating on the surface. Ducks were found to have landed at similar tailing ponds at Suncor Energy and Shell tar sands facilities.
Idaho road becomes oilsands battleground
By Shaun Polczer,
Calgary Herald
October 23, 2010
A twisting highway in the scenic Pacific Northwest has become the latest battleground for anti-oilsands activists hoping to block development of the world's second-largest oil reserves.
More than 200 process modules for Imperial Oil's $8-billion Kearl oilsands mine began arriving in Vancouver, Wash., on Oct. 3 and are being barged up the Columbia and Snake rivers to Lewiston, Idaho, without permits from state authorities to ship them 1,300 kilometres overland to the Alberta border.
