Labour / Migration

Upgrader fire ignites safety concerns
Last Updated: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 | 11:44 AM MT
CBC News

A third sour gas leak in two years at a Shell refinery northeast of Edmonton has some residents wondering how safe it is to live in the area known as Upgrader Alley.

A giant fireball erupted above Shell's Scotford upgrader near Fort Saskatchewan on Monday afternoon, sparked by a leak of the highly toxic and flammable gas. About 3,000 workers were sent home, but no one was injured in the incident.

Worker Rod Whitford said it wasn't a big scare.

Impacts of tar sands under scrutiny
By Sara Constantineau
News Writer
McGill Daily

An independent publication is trying to shock the public into understanding the social, environmental, and economic impacts of the Alberta tar sands.

The Dominion, an independent news cooperative, has launched a special issue about the tar sands with presentations at universities across Canada. The lead editors of the issue were at Concordia on Thursday night presenting their research and exclusive footage.

Editorial: Reconsidering the tar sands
McGill Daily

Going by mainstream media coverage, the Athabasca tar sands in Alberta are like a 21st century Wild West: breathless reports speak about the “boom” economy, bushels of money being made, and about how everything is gigantic. But as the tar sands have become the centrepiece of a new energy corridor sending oil and gas to the U.S., scant attention has been paid to the profound economic, ecological, and social costs that are at stake.

Suncor and Syncrude and Alberta’s royalty hike
SRJ Staff 07.NOV.07

Suncor Energy and Syncrude Canada Ltd will be affected by Alberta’s new royalty hike, but not immediately.

“Those companies are under separate crown agreements,” said Bob McManus, assistant director, communications Alberta energy. “Suncor was negotiated in 1963 and Syncrude in 1975.”

Premier Ed Stelmach announced a new royalty regime for oil and gas on Thursday, Oct. 25. Royalties would increase by $1.4 billion in 2010, a 20-per-cent increase over currently projected revenues for that year.

High costs trim forecast for oil sands production
NORVAL SCOTT

November 16, 2007

CALGARY -- Output from Alberta's oil sands will grow more slowly than was predicted last year as spiralling costs deter investment in the vast but difficult resource, Canada's national energy regulator says.

The National Energy Board forecast in a report released yesterday that by 2015 Canada's total oil output will be 4.05 million barrels of crude a day, 61 per cent greater than it was in 2005.

For Many Women, Alberta's Boom a Bust
Rising housing costs, lack of alternatives lead to precarious situations

by Maya Rolbin-Ghanie

The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca

Driven by the tar sands, Alberta's white-hot economy continues to make headlines. But the gendered repercussions of the province's boom are often neglected, understated, or altogether denied.

Deh Cho bridge could impede barge route

By MIN HUN FONG, SRJ Reporter

Alberta proponents of the northern barge route said they were disappointed their project might be forced out by the Deh Cho bridge, but said they respected the NWT’s decision in any event.

Mammoet Canada, heavy lifting specialists and a proponent of the barge route, said it would be disappointing if the barge route is cancelled, especially since the economic spinoff from the route would benefit the NWT as a whole.

Warning: this article justifies the virtual slavery of the "temporary foreign worker" programs, placing business "needs" ahead of human rights, especially in Energy exploding Alberta. Defend migrant rights, shut down the tar sands. The tar sands TFW's are not allowed off the work camp site. Think about that.

--M

Labour shortage temporarily met from abroad
Norma Greenaway , CanWest News Service
Published: Sunday, November 11, 2007

OTTAWA -- Joe Marshall had reached the end of his rope.

Cocaine: Alberta-wide increase
By CHUCK CHIANG

Fort McMurray Today staff
Tuesday November 13, 2007

The overall drug problem in Alberta is down, but cocaine-related issues are on the rise, according to a recent report by a provincial task force.
The Crime Reduction and Safe Communities Task Force said offences involving cocaine increased by 12 per cent last year, according to the Calgary Sun, versus drops in overall and marijuana drug offences.

SAUDI ARABIA'S NEW MIGHT: ENERGY
Fort McMurray of the Middle East
As Saudi Arabia tries to extend its oil reach, it faces the same hurdles as Alberta

DAVID EBNER

November 13, 2007

RABIGH, SAUDI ARABIA -- It's 35 C and humid on the shore of the Rea Sea north of Jeddah as a sprawling industrial facility and construction cranes emerge through the bright haze in the near distance.

For Saudi Arabia, a crude oil producer and refiner, the site is a first step into a future of doing more with the black gold that lies in vast quantities beneath the desert kingdom.