Labour / Migration

Oilsands worker says he was fired over blog
by Conal Pierse, Postmedia News //
Vancouver Sun
October 10, 2010

EDMONTON — As Mike Thomas sat on his front porch last week waiting to go to the airport and fly up to northern Alberta for work, his employer called him and said not to bother. He’d been fired for what he claims was blogging about camp conditions.

The apprentice electrician wrote two blog posts about the Suncor McKenzie and Voyager camps on the Firebag 3 project north of Fort McMurray, Alta., detailing what he said were unsanitary and inhumane conditions.

Alberta's oilsands city wants workers to live in, not just cash in

By: Bob Weber, The Canadian Press

Posted: 11/10/2010
FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. - Four years ago, Fort McMurray was a byword for boomtown.

Many saw it as a "lawless frontier town overrun by transient workers with too much money and too few community linkages," Mayor Melissa Blake said recently.

Vancouver targeted as Tar Sands shipping port
by Rod Marining
Common Ground
October 2010

According to Statistics Canada, in 2007, without any public process, Canada and China began shipping Tar Sands crude oil through Vancouver Harbour. Currently, two oil tankers per week carry up to 700,000 barrels of crude oil through Burrard Inlet and the dangerous Second Narrows, past our beaches and parks and into Georgia Strait. The oil companies have plans to expand this capacity to 10 tankers per week.

It can’t happen here

Syncrude chairman in Vancouver defends tarsands

Chairman says carbon emissions have been reduced

By Damian Inwood,
The Province
September 10, 2010

Syncrude Canada chairman Marcel Coutu stood before a business-friendly Vancouver lunch crowd and fired a salvo in defence of the Alberta tarsands giant's environmental record.

Peak oil notes - Sept 9
by Staff

Prices and production

Evolution of an oilsands 'dinosaur' killer

Potential alternative to upgraders untapped for two decades

By Dave Cooper, Edmonton Journal September 8, 2010

EDMONTON - A process developed in Alberta almost two decades ago that turns bitumen into oil without using upgrading facilities could be a "game changer" for the province, says the co-developer.

"I could never understand why we wouldn't try something simpler and easier for handling bitumen," said Edmonton's Keng Chung, president of Well Resources Inc., who now spends much of his time in China.

Enbridge signs Husky deal

Sunrise Project Next In Line; Project raises investments in oilsands to $2.3B

By Shaun Polczer, Calgary Herald September 8, 2010

CALGARY -- Enbridge Inc. on Tuesday continued to redouble its oilsands expansion plans with a deal to tie Husky Energy's proposed Sunrise oilsands project to its Cheecham distribution hub in northeast Alberta.

The Calgary-based shipper said it had signed a $475-million deal with Husky to build and operate the facilities which will initially ship 90,000 barrels per day to its transportation hub near Conklin starting in 2013.

Enbridge to Expand Athabasca Pipeline Capacity

Canadian Natural Resources, subcontractor charged in 2008 oilsands drowning
By The Canadian Press
September 3, 2010

EDMONTON - Workplace safety charges have been filed against petroleum producer Canadian Natural Resources and one of its subcontractors in an oilsands death two years ago.

Rick Boughner, 47, died in September 2008 when an excavator he was using tipped over and sank into a tailings pond, causing him to drown.

Transcanada’s Keystone Pipeline Shut Down for Work
By Aaron Clark and Samantha Zee - Sep 3, 2010

TransCanada Corp. shut its Keystone pipeline Sept. 1 for unscheduled maintenance work, Michael Barnes, a company spokesman said in a telephone interview. The line is expected to resume service by Sept. 8, he said.

TransCanada expects to make all September deliveries on time, Barnes said. The inline inspections will take place throughout the 2,151-mile (3,461-kilometer) pipeline.