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.
October 21, 2007
The Tar Sands and Canada's Food System
Are beans the only cure for natural gas?
by Dru Oja Jay
The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca
Canada’s industrial food system is deeply reliant on natural gas.
Tar sands opponents point out that burning natural gas, a relatively clean fuel, to extract oil will result in massive increases in greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, some experts say the implications of using natural gas go far beyond global warming.
The Energy Challenge
Fight Against Coal Plants Draws Diverse Partners
Robin Loznak/The Great Falls Tribune
By SUSAN MORAN
Published: October 20, 2007
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Richard D. Liebert turned his back against a hard wind the other day, adjusted his black cap and gazed across golden fields of hay. Explaining why he is against construction of a big coal-burning power plant east of town, Liebert sounded like one more voice from the green movement.
Richard D. Liebert, who owns the Windwalker Ranch near the planned site, is a vocal, and unusual, opponent of the power plant.
Expert: Oil would pass near water supply
Some question safety of aquifers with proposed pipeline
By Terry Woster
twoster@midco.net
October 18, 2007
PIERRE - A proposed crude-oil pipeline would pass near some shallow underground water sources in Marshall and Brown counties, an expert says.
The route proposed for a Trans-Canada Keystone Pipeline through South Dakota was altered during planning stages to limit the distance across shallow aquifer areas that the line would travel, Heidi Tillquist said in testimony filed with the state Public Utilities Commission.
Video footage shot by oilsandstruth.org with the Dominionpaper.ca & Msguided.org over the course of the summer, huddled together into amateur documentary form (click on the story to view all five parts):
Part one:
Part two:
Published on 10 Oct 2007 by ASPO-USA / Energy Bulletin. Archived on 10 Oct 2007.
An oil & gas Shangri-la in the Arctic?
by Dave Cohen
Scientists say the Arctic contains 25% of the world's undiscovered oil and gas. Why not 100%?
— Stephen Colbert, from the Colbert Report
Water needs for potential oil shale industry could complicate thing
BY DENNIS WEBB
garfield county correspondent
September 15, 2007
GRAND JUNCTION — America’s thirst for oil is threatening to add to the thirst for water in the West.
Meeting the nation’s energy needs also is threatening water quality in the region, speakers said Friday at a seminar in Grand Junction on energy development’s impacts on water. The seminar was organized by the Colorado River District, based in Glenwood Springs.
Commissioners say they're not against pipeline
Oct 10, 2007 - 04:01:41 CDT
Associtaed Press
County commissioners along the route of a proposed oil pipeline from Canada held an impromptu meeting with Public Service Commissioner Kevin Cramer to tell him they're not all against the plan.
About two dozen commissioners met Monday night with Cramer while in Bismarck for the Association of Counties convention.
It's not just Alberta, it's the whole country
ANDREW NIKIFORUK
October 6, 2007
review: STUPID TO THE LAST DROP By William Marsden
How Alberta is Bringing Environmental Armageddon to Canada (and Doesn't Seem to Care)
The Globe and Mail
Ottawa and Alta First Nation sign agreement-in-principle on $300M land claim
Fri Oct 12, 5:42 PM
By The Canadian Press
WABASCA, Alta. - Alberta's Bigstone Cree have signed an agreement-in-principle with the provincial and federal governments that would entitle the First Nation to almost $300 million and almost 570 square kilometres of land.
The Bigstone are calling it the largest land-claim settlement in Alberta and one of the largest in Canada.
The agreement means all sides will work to finalize the settlement, which stems from a treaty signed in the late 1800s.
The tar sands
Canada's version of liquid coal
Posted by Joseph Romm
11 Oct 2007
Canada has about as much recoverable oil in its tar sands as Saudi Arabia has conventional oil. They should leave most of it in the ground.
Tar sands are pretty much the heavy gunk they sound like, and making liquid fuels from them requires huge amounts of energy for steam injection and refining. Canada is currently producing about one million barrels of oil a day from the tar sands, and that is projected to triple over the next two decades.
