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.
Prentice to stay on Mackenzie pipeline project
Decision provides continuity on complex issue, say proponents
Last Updated: Friday, August 17, 2007 | 10:29 AM CT
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2007/08/17/nwt-prentice.html
Industry Minister Jim Prentice will continue working on the Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline project, even though he is no longer Indian and northern affairs minister — a move that has pleased pipeline proponents and continued to frustrate critics.
A methane battle is brewing
By Andrew Findlay
Publish Date: August 23, 2007
http://www.straight.com/article-106704/a-methane-battle-is-brewing
Back in 1978, a young Wade Davis scored the job of his dreams. Hired as a park ranger to explore and map B.C.'s newly established Spatsizi Plateau Wilderness Park, he had a wonderfully vague job description: wilderness assessment and public relations. In two seasons he "related" to fewer than a dozen visitors.
Methane dispute reignites in B.C.
WENDY STUECK
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070822.RSHELL22/TPSto...
August 22, 2007
VANCOUVER -- A group of protesters, including members of the Tahltan and Iskut Indian bands, blocked a road in northwestern British Columbia yesterday, preventing Royal Dutch Shell PLC crews from heading into a contested region to do road repair work and reigniting a debate over coal bed methane exploration in the area.
As labour shortages are going to take a short while to be dealt with through the importation of "guest workers" on top of already getting Newfoundlanders to fly in weekly while energy throughout the province is already stretched to beyond capacity, the pipeline problem is the third de facto part of an existing physics-based moratorium. With all of these shortages and the US Dep't of Energy screaming for quadrupling tar sands bitumen production, our strategy to block new pipeline construction at the least slows down the entire project.
--M
Oilsands face pipeline space shortage
Alberta's Lubicons get a boost from U.N. Human Rights Committee
Aug, 13 2007 - 4:50 PM
http://www.630ched.com/news/news_local.cfm?cat=7428109912&rem=72244&red=...
EDMONTON/630 CHED - A U.N. Committee on Human Rights is urging Canada to negotiate a long standing land claim treaty with the Lubicon Cree Nation of north central Alberta.
The U.N. Human Rights Committee wrapped up two-and-a-half weeks of hearings in Geneva, late last month, and on the agenda was the issue of Alberta's Lubicons.
The new dirty energy
It's big, it's growing -- and it's bad for the environment. Inside the other alternative-energy movement.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/08/19/the_new_dirty...
By Drake Bennett | August 19, 2007
FOR THOSE WHO dream that high oil prices will help drive America toward a brave new world of clean energy, the MacKay River project in Alberta, Canada, offers a glimpse of the future.
Tar sand mining growing at huge environmental cost
Posted: 23 Aug 2007
http://www.peopleandplanet.net/doc.php?id=3079
Canadian tar sands deposits hold an estimated 1.7 trillion barrels of crude oil, second in the world only to Saudi Arabia, but the devastating environmental impact of mining them far exceeds that of conventional oil, says new research to be published next month (September 2007).
Greenpeace guns for the tar sands
http://www.journalofcommerce.com/article/id24064
Canada’s most “environmentally destructive” project expands
Aug. 20, 2007
EDMONTON
Greenpeace is setting up shop in Edmonton and it has set its sights on shutting down Alberta’s tar sands.
“The tar sands are one of the most environmentally destructive projects in Canada, if not the world,” said Greenpeace campaign organizer Geeta Sehgal adding they create 40 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year.
Canadian energy company plans another pipeline in U.S.
http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2007/08/06/pipeline-oil.html
Last Updated: Monday, August 6, 2007
The Canadian Press
TransCanada Corp. is joining with Northwest Natural Gas Company on a proposal to build a natural gas pipeline in Oregon that could cost the companies up to $700 million US.
http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewFeature7.cfm?REF=410
Oil Sands Committee reports back
It is time for the Stelmach government to pick a side: public or industry.
Dateline: Tuesday, August 07, 2007
by Ricardo Acuna
Last week, the Alberta Government released the much anticipated final report and recommendations of the Oil Sands Multi-Stakeholder Committee — the committee charged with carrying out a broad-based consultation with Albertans and making recommendations on the future of the Alberta tar sands.
