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.
PetroChina to take full control of MacKay River oilsands project from Athabasca
By Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press
January 03, 2012
CALGARY - Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. has decided to sell its 40 per cent stake in the MacKay River oilsands project to joint-venture partner PetroChina, giving a Chinese oil giant full control of an oilsands asset for the first time.
Obama, Congress begin 2012 in oil pipeline dispute
By Matthew Daly
Associated Press
Monday, January 2, 2012
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and Congress are starting the election year locked in a tussle over a proposed 1,700-mile oil pipeline from Canada to Texas that will force the White House to make a politically risky choice between two key Democratic constituencies.
Some unions say the Keystone XL pipeline would create thousands of jobs. Environmentalists fear it could lead to an oil spill disaster.
EVERYONE IS DOWNSTREAM: Tar Sands in Madagascar
Jean Pierre Ratsimbazafy of Madagascar speaks in Durban, South Africa
by Lia Tarachansky →Durban 2011
Utah’s Oil Sands a Resource for Domestic Energy and Jobs
December 4, 2011
Utah Pulse
One of the nation’s largest potential hydrocarbon resources is contained in oil sands in Utah. The oil sands at PR Spring are located on Utah’s remote East Tavaputs Plateau, and they are estimated to contain the equivalent of over 4.5 billion barrels of oil. As oil prices hover around $100 a barrel and we look to domestic fuel sources, unconventional options are moving into the spotlight. Oil sands are important for applications such as transportation fuel and native asphalt.
Shell's Bonga Bongo (and other beats)
Nnimmo Bassey
Although the oil company Shell has pronounced the cause and source of its oil spill of 20 or so December 2011 this has remained nothing other than a company statement. Since that spill the company has writhed and contorted in efforts to prove to the world that it is responsive to concerns surrounding its notorious despoliation of the Niger Delta environment.
Still waiting for word from WH on Keystone pipeline
Chris Woodward - OneNewsNow - 12/29/2011
The clock is ticking for President Barack Obama to either make a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline -- or explain why the plan is not in the nation's best interest.
Dan Simmons, director of state and regulatory affairs at the Institute for Energy Research (IER), thinks it is easy to see why the pipeline should be approved.
Important note: This article originally had the words Oil Shale reversed as "Shale Oil". However, the common use of the term Shale Oil is in reference to fracking to recover oil near or trapped by shale rock; much like the gas released by fracking in Northeastern BC in Canada or the Northeast of the United States (New York, Pennsylvania, etc). Oil Shale extraction is in many ways worse; we do not yet know what the impact on water would be if this were to go into larger scale production, however, we do know that the energy input alone is likely to be astronomical-- in the case of Israel/Palestine, they are talking about a process of heating the rock in the ground for MANY months before a single drop of kerogen (a pre-oil substance, like the more commonly known bitumen) is literally bled out of the rock.
Just in terms of climate change this project is a disaster, never mind the impact on geopolitics, the immediate environment, Palestinian human rights, Israeli human health, etc. this could be a crime on a scale hard to imagine. It is sad to say there may be something worse than tar sands in Canada. And harder to say that it may, in fact, be in the Holy Land-- and the holiest of places within it.
--M
Oil Set to Spike in 2012, Say Analysts
Friday, December 16, 2011
Jason Simpkins
NuWire Investor
[This same Boak is shilling as well for the Israeli plan to decimate parts of the Elah Valley to turn rock into oil using heat, damn the energy input. They are not to be trusted and have no previous record of success, but this is reprinted here as an FYI as to what should come out of the ground vis-a-vis their "ideas". --M]
Oil shale development requires thoughtful, careful dialogue
December 12, 2011 7:56 PM
JEREMY BOAK
GUEST COLUMNIST
Jordan Jumps Forward on Energy Development
Laurie Balbo | December 12th, 2011
Environmental activists united in protest for a second time in six months urging public debate over Jordan’s emerging atomic energy program. Over two dozen anti-nuclear activists protested near Prime Minister Awn Khasawneh’s Amman offices last Saturday, in vocal reaction to a government policy statement reaffirming Jordan’s commitment to nuclear development.
