The Health implications in terms of these projects are vast, and not just the deadly explosions and industrial accidents that happen in production-—from reported increases in rare forms of cancer downstream from tar sands production to the pollution of fresh water leading to poisoned diets (fish, moose and plant toxicity)—-direct links are hard to establish but impossible to either rule out or ignore, especially where tarsand operations constitute overwhelmingly the greatest change to the environment in most corners of the continent effected directly by tarsand infrastructure.
Oil sands activity, not wolves, threatens Canadian caribou
June 22, 2011
OilSandsLoader
Four years of research has found that exploration and mining of Canada's oil sands appear to pose a much greater threat to the remaining herds of Alberta's caribou than does being eaten by packs of wolves.
The findings, by a team of Canadian and U.S. researchers, caution Alberta authorities against pouncing on a proposed quick fix: killing off wolves to save the caribou from extinction.
Neighbors wary of tar sands refinery in Detroit
By Eartha Jane Melzer | 06.23.11
The Marathon refinery in southwest Detroit is expanding in order to process more Canadian tar sands crude oil, a move it admits will increase pollution in a neighborhood already burdened by industrial contamination.
The Detroit Free Press reports that many want to leave the neighborhood and that Marathon has bought up some of the homes around its 81 year-old factory for use as parking lots or green space.
CNRL project to cut emissions
NATHAN VANDERKLIPPE
CALGARY— From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, May. 17, 2011 7:12PM EDT
Canada’s oil sands companies are dramatically expanding an effort to link arms on efforts to reduce the environmental impact of the oil sands.
Alberta fires prompt Shell to pull workers from oilsands mine site
By Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press –May 19, 2011
CALGARY — Shell Canada Ltd. said Thursday it was pulling non-essential workers from its vast oilsands mining operations north of Fort McMurray, Alta., as wildfire smoke drifted toward the site.
The winds had previously moved smoke north from the site, but overnight they changed direction and brought heavier smoke into the area.
Tar Sands development edging closer in Trinidad and Tobago?
RBC appears at Trinidad government forum extolling their record in Canada's tar sands
by Macdonald Stainsby
April 19, 2011
Mediacoop.ca
In December of 2010, Rainforest Action Network [RAN], issued a press release that was full of praise for the Royal Bank of Canada adopting a new framework around investments in companies involved in tar sands production.
Protesters demand halt to bank’s tar sands financing
Herald Scotland
cHRIS WATT and SIMON BAIN
20 Apr 2011
PROTESTERS yesterday hijacked a meeting of the Royal Bank of Scotland to demand an end to state-backed funding for tar sands oil projects.
Representatives of Canada’s First Nations visited Edinburgh to tell the bank’s annual meeting that oil extraction could threaten their way of life and cause untold environmental damage in the event of a spill.
Estonia sees rock as future of global energy
By Anneli Reigas (AFP) – Mar 22, 2011
NARVA, Estonia — A huge excavator bites into the earth of an open-cast mine, as the operator skillfully mans the controls in a cabin four storeys from ground level.
For the small Baltic state of Estonia, rock is the future of energy.
The European Union nation of 1.3 million generates 97 percent of its electricity thanks to oil shale -- sediment formed 400-450 million years ago, containing hydrocarbons. Its industry forecasts that shale's use can only expand.
Feds to consider tars sands, shale projects
The Associated Press April 13, 2011
SALT LAKE CITY
The federal government says it will take a fresh look at commercial oil shale and tar sands plans in the Western United States.
The Bureau of Land Management said Wednesday it would soon begin performing environmental studies for potential projects on federal land in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. The agency is seeking public comment.
Canadian firm to probe Utah oil sands
Project to build mine would be first of its kind in United States
Written by
CHI-CHI ZHANG
Associated Press
April 17 2011
SALT LAKE CITY -- Beneath the lush, green hills of eastern Utah's Uinta Basin, where elk, bear and bison outnumber people, the soil is saturated with a sticky tar that may soon provide a new domestic source of petroleum for the United States.
It would be a first-of-its kind project in the country that some fear could be a slippery slope toward widespread wilderness destruction.
Is There Such a Thing as 'Ethical Oil'? Canada Claims it Has Lots and the US Is Buying It
By Jason Mark, Earth Island Journal
AlterNet
Sunday, Apr 17, 2011
To get to the quaint village of Fort McKay in the far north of Alberta, Canada, you first have to pass through some version of hell.
