Forests

INTERVIEW-
NASA's Hansen concerned about Canada's oil sands
Wed Feb 18, 2009 5:41pm GMT

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent

WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Canada's oil sands are an environmental "wild card," NASA's James Hansen said in an interview before President Barack Obama's trip to Ottawa, where energy and climate change will be on the agenda.

As director of the U.S. space agency's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City, with a focus on climate change, Hansen has long opposed the burning of oil, gas and coal for their contribution to global warming.

Canada’s Tar-Sands Oil Can Be ‘Clean,’ Obama Says
By Jim Efstathiou Jr.

Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Oil extracted from tar sands in Canada can be made a clean energy source, and the U.S. will work with its northern neighbor to develop the technology, President Barack Obama said.

TransCanada CEO downbeat about Mackenzie line
Wed Feb 11, 2009 8:48pm GMT

By Bruce Nichols

HOUSTON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Regulatory delays have worsened the odds that the C$16.2 billion ($13 billion) Mackenzie gas pipeline in Canada's far north will ever be built despite a promise of help from Ottawa, TransCanada Corp's (TRP.TO) chief executive said on Wednesday.

Alberta serious about oil sands clean up: minister
Strict New Rules

By Darcy Henton and Dan Healing, Canwest News
February 4, 2009

Alberta's energy minister says strict new rules governing oil sands tailings ponds will show the world that Alberta is serious about cleaning up the province's oil sands developments.

"I think the market community internationally [is] going to see that the province of Alberta and this government are very serious about how we move forward with ... development that's environmentally friendly," said Mel Knight.

Fort Chip cancer rates higher than expected: report
February 6, 2009
CBC News

The number of cancer cases in Fort Chipewyan, Alta., is higher than expected, says a report from Alberta Health Services released Friday.

Fifty-one cancers in 47 people were found in Fort Chipewyan between 1995 and 2006, a dozen more than the 39 cancers that were expected, and the incidences of some cancers warrant more followup, the report said.

Tar sands-related cancer study to be released today
edmontonjournal.com
February 6, 2009

EDMONTON - A study of the incidence of cancer in the northern Alberta community of Fort Chipewyan is to be released Friday at noon.

Dr. Tony Fields of Alberta Health Services is to discuss the findings at Edmonton's Cross Cancer Institute.

Fort Chipewyan is downstream from oilsands development, which some in the area have blamed for higher than normal rates of rare cancer. The study was meant to determine whether that was the case.

Alta. delta gets special international designation
by Margaret Munro, Canwest News Service
February 3, 2009

The Peace-Athabasca Delta in northern Alberta was declared one of the Western Hemisphere's most extraordinary and endangered places Tuesday by a leading environmental group that named the delta a "BioGem" it will campaign to save.

Analyst: market dims hope for Alaska gas pipeline
(Published January 24, 2009)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Energy market analysts addressed an Anchorage audience hoping for a multibillion dollar Alaska natural gas pipeline and the news was not good.

The global economic crisis has slashed demand for natural gas and dimmed chances for an Alaska pipeline, they said. The line also faces expanded competition.

"It's certainly going to be taken off the urgent list," said Ed Kelly, a Houston-based vice president with the global energy consulting firm Wood Mackenzie.

2009 January 25 - The Integrity of Creation and the Athabasca Oil Sands

A Pastoral Letter on The Integrity of Creation and the Athabasca Oil Sands to The Faithful of the diocese of St. Paul on The Occasion of the Jubilee Year in Honour of St. Paul by
†Luc Bouchard Bishop of St. Paul in Alberta, Canada
January 25th, 2009

The Integrity of Creation and the Athabasca Oil Sands

“Faced with the widespread destruction of the environment people
everywhere are coming to understand that we cannot continue to
use the goods of the earth as we have in the past. . . a new ecological

Environmental Group Wants Enquiry into Enbridge Gateway Proposal
Sun, 2009-01-18

The Friends of the Wild Salmon Coalition is calling for a full public inquiry into Enbridge's proposed Northern Gateway Project. The project, if approved would consist of two pipelines - one to transport tar-sands oil from Edmonton to Kitimat, and the other would transport condensate from Kitimat, back to Alberta. Friends of the Wild Salmon Coordinator Pat Moss says they are concerned about the location of the pipelines.