It is falsely assumed that big projects equal lots of jobs and, by extension, labour peace if not outright satisfaction. The size and scope of the tarsands means for incredibly dangerous work conditions-- some fatalities at the plants have already occurred. The products seldom get their "value added" in union-run locations, instead the heavy bitumen can be shipped to many different locations across North America for refining, denying benefits to the union. However, the Union does not represent the "guest worker", now being imported in increasing numbers as legislation is changed to make access easier, the term of exploitation last longer, without any new efforts or pathways to deciding to stay after helping tear up the earth.
J.P. Morgan aims at Canadian oil sands
Broker initiates coverage of names from the Great White North
Oct. 25, 2010,
By Steve Gelsi, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — J.P. Morgan on Monday launched coverage of six Canadian oil stocks as it took aim at the vast oil sands of Alberta as oil prices stabilize at or above $80-a-barrel.
J.P. Morgan analyst Katherine Lucas Minyard said the move reflects the conclusion that the oil sands will provide in increasingly important source of oil.
Enbridge Energy could be Minnesota's BP
Oil company has friends on the PUC
By Justin Horwath Wednesday, Oct 20 2010
The Midwest is a new market for companies with leases in Alberta, Canada's tar sands fields, which constitute the largest untapped oil supply in the world outside Saudi Arabia.
Enbridge Energy and other pipeline companies have been in a race to tap the Gulf and East Coast markets, and soon enough, companies with leases in the tar sands will have access to the entire U.S.
Can the Canadian Economy Afford the Tar Sands?
Jeffrey Rubin
Economist // October 19, 2010
America is banking on a lot more Canadian bitumen exports to supply it with oil in the future. Already the single largest source of the US's imported oil, the Alberta tar sands' supply could soon comprise as much as almost a third of America's total oil imports -- apart from the fact that it's far from clear whether or not the rest of the Canadian economy could afford the consequences.
Imperial's oilsands modules traverse circuitous route
By Dave Cooper, Edmonton Journal October 16, 2010
With Imperial's $8-billion Kearl oilsands project now about 25 per cent complete, the first two South Koreanmade modules have arrived by barge in Lewiston, Idaho, after a 500-kilometre trip from the U.S. West Coast.
A shipload of modules arrived on Oct. 3 at the Port of Vancouver, Wash., across from Portland on the Columbia River. The units were loaded onto barges and towed up the Columbia and Snake rivers to Lewiston.
Junior oilsands players receive legislative green lights on projects
Southern Pacific Resources and Laricina Energy get Orders in Council
By Dina O'Meara, Calgary Herald October 18, 2010
CALGARY - Junior oilsands players Southern Pacific Resources Corp. and Laricina Energy have received provincial approvals for their thermal projects in northeastern Alberta.
Oilsands closure not an option for NDP
By FRANK LANDRY, Legislature Bureau
Last Updated: October 5, 2010
Alberta’s NDP does not want to shut down the oilsands, says Leader Brian Mason.
It’s a point Mason said he wants to drive home as he tours the province, talking up the party’s policies.
“It’s part of correcting this perception that (Premier) Ed Stelmach and the Conservative government have been trying to spread about where we stand,” said Mason, in Fort McMurray on Tuesday, outlining his party’s stance on jobs and the oilsands.
Proposed oil refinery the center of political debate
Iowa politicians weigh environmental risks against potential economic gains
By Matt Vasilogambros 10/6/10
The Iowa Independent
A proposed 400,000-barrel-per-day tar sands oil refinery along the South Dakota-Iowa border is stirring an increasingly polarizing debate, bringing both environmental and economic concerns to the forefront. The refinery is even becoming an issue in the gubernatorial campaign between Republican Terry Branstad and Democrat Chet Culver.
Some Nebraska Landowners Won't Make Way for Keystone XL Pipeline
By Elizabeth McGowan at SolveClimate
Tue Oct 12, 2010
Editor's Note: In late September, SolveClimate News reporter Elizabeth McGowan traveled to Nebraska to find out more about the Keystone XL pipeline that TransCanada plans to build to carry crude oil from the tar sands of Alberta to Gulf Coast refineries in Texas. This is the sixth in a series. Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5 here.
It goes against our nature; but the left has to start asserting its own values
The progressive attempt to appeal to self-interest has been a catastrophe. Empathy, not expediency, must drive our campaigns
o George Monbiot
o guardian.co.uk, Monday 11 October 2010
So here we are, forming an orderly queue at the slaughterhouse gate. The punishment of the poor for the errors of the rich, the abandonment of universalism, the dismantling of the shelter the state provides: apart from a few small protests, none of this has yet brought us out fighting.
Fired Oilsands blogger speaking out
Trish Kozicka, Global News: Sunday, October 10, 2010
Mike Thomas believes he was fired from his job as an apprentice electrician with Aecon Lockerbie & Hole - a company under contract to Suncor - because he blogged about what he describes as inhumane, unhealthy and unsanitary conditions at Suncor's Mackenzie and Voyageur camps on the Firebag 3 project north of Fort McMurray.
