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.
Will Canada's oil boom be an environmental bust?
By ROB GILLIES – Aug 23, 2008
FORT MCMURRAY, Alberta (AP) — The largest dump truck in the world is parked under a massive mechanical shovel waiting to transport 400 tons of oily sand at an open pit mine in the northern reaches of Alberta.
Each Caterpillar 797B heavy hauler — three-stories high, with tires twice as tall as the average man — carries the equivalent of 200 barrels of heavy oil worth $23,000 per haul at today's prices.
TransCanada's Alaska pipeline project wins approval by state Senate
By: THE CANADIAN PRESS
CALGARY - TransCanada Corp. (TSX:TRP) said Friday the Alaska Legislature has signed off on a license for the company's US$26-billion Alaska Pipeline Project under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act.
"The legislature's decision represents a significant milestone in advancing this major natural gas pipeline project to connect stranded U.S. natural gas reserves to Alaskan and Lower 48 consumers," TransCanada president and chief executive Hal Kvisle said.
Oil: Tar sands less damaging than coal, insists Shell
· Profits from controversial source increase by 74%
· Group makes $7.9bn as Exxon hits record $11.7bn
* Terry Macalister
* The Guardian,
* Friday August 1 2008
Shell warned environmentalists and ethical investors yesterday that failure to exploit tar sands and other unconventional oil products would worsen climate change because it would lead to the world burning even more carbon-heavy coal.
Quote from the article below:
"It could also, conceivably, shut down Canada's only tactical bombing range at Cold Lake."
Red tape ties up Mackenzie plan
Herald News Services
Published: Friday, July 25, 2008
As the Alaska pipeline clears political hurdles and marches forward, Canada's own multibillion-dollar plan to tap Arctic natural gas reserves in the Mackenzie Delta remains in regulatory limbo.
The fact wasn't lost on Northwest Territories industry minister Bob McLeod.
ATTENTION: ALL NEWS EDITORS
==> Pictures attached of 2nd Protest Against PNWER Summit
==> No Smooth Sailing for PNWER Elites: Marina Entrance Blocked by Activists
==> Activists cite lack of transparent process and public consultation in
PNWER decision making given wide scope of policy impacts from 2010 Olympics
to oil and gas mining
Wednesday July 23, 2008 Vancouver- A group of activists blocked access to
the Westin Bayshore marina today to protest the Pacific NorthWest Economic
Region (PNWER) summit. In doing so, they prevented delegates from boarding a
Alaska House OKs gas pipeline license for TransCanada Corp.
11 hours ago
JUNEAU, Alaska — The Alaska State House of Representatives has approved a state license for a Canadian company to pursue a natural gas pipeline project that could unlock 130 million cubic metres of North Slope gas reserves daily.
The House backed the plan on a 24-16 vote Tuesday. A reconsideration vote is planned Wednesday, but that's usually a formality. If approved then, the bill will go to the state Senate, which must approve or reject it before Aug. 2.
Alberta First Nations and Allies Deliver Message To Investment Symposium in Calgary:
Dirty Tar Sands Oil Is A Risky Investment
Groups Dare Investors to Drink Community Water
CALGARY - July 16 - Members of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation and the Mikisew Cree First Nation and environmental and social justice advocates traveled to Calgary today to the Oil and Gas Investment Symposium hosted by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers with a message for the hundreds of investors from the United States and around the world that Canada’s Tar Sands are a risky investment.
Oil sands boom swamps the Canadian wilderness
Environmentalists want tougher laws to halt the damage, writes Tim Webb
* Sunday July 20, 2008
Todd Dahlman scoops up a handful of oily sand and smiles. 'This is the
money - it even smells like money,' says the manager of Shell's Muskeg
River oil sands mine in the Athabasca region of North Alberta in Canada.
We are standing in the middle of a pit 50m deep that giant diggers
have hollowed out of the earth. Some 150m beneath our feet lie almost
a billion barrels of oil.
Forging a Politics Worthy of the Landscape
The Origins of the Western Greens
By JEFFREY ST. CLAIR
July 12 / 13, 2008
This essay is excerpted from Red State Rebels: Tales of Grassroots Resistance From the Heartland edited by Joshua Frank and Jeffrey St. Clair (AK Press, 2008).
For thirty-five years the Democratic Party has enjoyed a nearly unquestioned hegemony over environmental politics, even though the greatest gains for the Earth were made during the Nixon administration.
