Oil Sands Truth: Shut Down the Tar Sands

Land

Land, regardless of whether covered by forests, tundra or grasslands, is threatened by mining operations such as Alberta’s vast open tar pit operations, or through incredible networks of “right of way” cuts for pipelines that extend in the hundreds of thousands of miles, all told, and across the continent in four directions and to three oceans—either through feeding the tarsand operations with fossil fuel energy or through feeding energy markets from tarsand operations after production. In the case of pipeline right of ways, they can blast directly through mountains or be buried in permafrost if needed, to get the energy to move.

A Black Mound of Canadian Oil Waste Is Rising Over Detroit

WINDSOR, Ontario — Assumption Park gives residents of this city lovely views of the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit skyline. Lately they’ve been treated to another sight: a three-story pile of petroleum coke covering an entire city block on the other side of the Detroit River.

The New York Times

By IAN AUSTEN
Published: May 17, 2013

Detroit’s ever-growing black mountain is the unloved, unwanted and long overlooked byproduct of Canada’s oil sands boom.

Maine town opposes tar sands oil in pipeline

Maine town opposes tar sands oil in pipeline
Jun 12, 2013

HARRISON, Maine (AP) - Residents in a Maine town have passed a resolution opposing the pumping of Canadian tar sands oil through a pipeline for shipment overseas.

Residents in Harrison voted 156-59 for the resolution Tuesday, one of at least six towns to do so.

The pipeline is used to carry foreign crude oil from Maine to Montreal. Five miles stretch through Harrison.

South Portlanders petition to put tar-sands project on the ballot

South Portlanders petition to put tar-sands project on the ballot
Pre-emptive Petitioning
The Portland Phoenix
By DEIRDRE FULTON | June 13, 2013

In the latest pre-emptive salvo against a potential project that has garnered significant advance attention, a group of South Portlanders has launched a citizens' initiative to change the city's zoning ordinance in order to prevent the Portland Pipe Line Corporation from processing tar-sands oil through its Casco Bay facility.

San Francisco State University votes to divest investment in coal, tar sands

Associated Press // SJ Mercury News
06/12/2013

SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco State University will stop investing its endowment in coal and tar sands companies, joining a growing list of universities that are avoiding investments in fossil fuels, the school said Tuesday.

The university's foundation, which oversees a $51.2 million endowment, also voted in May to look into removing all future investments in fossil fuels companies.

B.C. officially opposes Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline

B.C. officially opposes Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline
'Our questions were not satisfactorily answered,' environment minister says
CBC News
May 31, 2013

The B.C. government has officially expressed its opposition to a proposal for the Northern Gateway pipeline project, saying it fails to address the province's environmental concerns.

The province made the announcement in its final written submission to the Northern Gateway Pipeline Joint Review Panel.

Tar Sands pipeline to take all-new route from Surrey to Burnaby

Oil pipeline to take all-new route from Surrey to Burnaby

By Jeff Nagel - Burnaby NewsLeader
May 27, 2013

Kinder Morgan Canada plans to stake out an almost all-new corridor for its second oil pipeline from Port Kells in Surrey to Burnaby to avoid digging through private property in densely populated neighbourhoods.

Greg Toth, senior project director of the Trans Mountain pipeline twinning, said following the existing right-of-way – as the company intends on most of the rest of the route through the Fraser Valley and the Interior – would be too disruptive to existing land owners.

Northwest Territories Looking to Bid for Pipelines

Lynsey Kitching
May 27, 2013
Tumbler Ridge News

The enormous opposition to the potential pipelines (Enbridge and Trans-Canada) in BC has spurred the Northwest Territories (NWT) to speak up and offer a solution to Alberta’s dilemma of getting their resources to market.

David Ramsay, Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment for the NWT says, “If those opportunities don’t come for Alberta to the west coast, through a province like BC, we want to be seen as an option.”

Enbridge to meet re-elected B.C. Liberals on Northern Gateway

Rebecca Penty, Bloomberg News | 13/05/24

Enbridge Inc. is moving ahead with plans to meet five conditions for the British Columbia government to support its proposed Northern Gateway oil pipeline, after a Liberal re-election made clear terms needed to satisfy officials in the Pacific Coast province.

With U.S. Awash in Oil, Keystone Argument Weakens

By John H. Cushman Jr.
May 24, 2013

InsideClimateNews.org -- U.S. oil production is suddenly growing so fast that some analysts are questioning how much the country really needs the Canadian tar sands oil that would move through the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.