Social Impacts. Overnight injections of migrant workers will not build healthy communities and can have severely adverse impacts on existing communities, especially those of indigenous nations on their traditional lands. Such development brings vices and long term displacement too often. Drugs, alcohol and associated violence spreads. Hunting becomes difficult when the land is threatened, leading to a further loss of culture and tradition. In towns like Fort McMurray there is no planning for the future, but merely consumption in the present. However transient the individuals may be, the populations will not leave, as “development” takes on a logic all its own. All levels of run away development are subordinate to that development, not social need.
Politics Stamps Out Oil Sands Pipeline, Yet It Seems Likely to Endure
By JOHN M. BRODER and DAN FROSCH
Published: December 23, 2011
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration confirmed this week that a provision in the payroll tax bill requiring a quick decision on the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from western Canada to the Gulf Coast will probably lead to cancellation of the project.
Reflections on Apartheid Oil
by Media Co-op
December 21, 2011
The Apartheid Oil series, which was originally published here on the Media Co-op, has created waves of discussion throughout the activist community and beyond. As a follow up to the five pieces that were part of the Apartheid Oil project, the Media Co-op did a follow-up interview with author Macdonald Stainsby.
Media Co-op: Is there a religious element to arguments in favour of developing these oil shale deposits?
Premier Clark says B.C.'s coast belongs to Alberta (and all of Canada), not just B.C.
BC Premier Christy Clark said the west coast "doesn't just belong to British Columbia", but some British Columbians disagree.
Alexis Stoymenoff
Posted: Dec 19th, 2011
"British Columbia's coast does not just belong to British Columbia,” BC Premier Christy Clark said last week. The statement has sparked both environmental and economic discussions about responsibilities and rights to British Columbia’s coast.
Stephen Harper has doubts on Keystone pipeline approval, sees markets in Asia
By Jordan Press, Postmedia News December 20, 2011
Canada could sell its oil to China and other overseas markets with or without approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline in the United States, says Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
In a year-end television interview, Harper indicated he had doubts the $7-billion pipeline would receive political approval from U.S. President Barack Obama, and that Canada should be looking outside the United States for markets.
Showdown at the Durban Disaster: Challenging the ‘Big Green’ Patriarchy
By Anne Petermann, Executive Director, Global Justice Ecology Project
Dedicated to Judi Bari, Emma Goldman, my mother and all of the other strong women who inspire me
An action loses all of its teeth when it is orchestrated with the approval of the authorities. It becomes strictly theater for the benefit of the media. With no intent or ability to truly challenge power.
I hate actions like that.
The Estonian connection: Or how I started worrying about oil shale
High Country News
Jonathan Thompson | Dec 06, 2011 05:00 AM
The last big oil shale* boom in the West busted on “Black Sunday” 1982. I was 11 years old, then, living in Western Colorado, and I can still remember my dad explaining the boom, the bust and the process necessary to get the "oil" out of the shale.
Extreme Extraction
Oil production plans could reshape Morocco's economy and environment
by Macdonald Stainsby
November 17, 2011
Mediacoop.ca
RABAT, MOROCCO-- Many well-known voices trying to address the climate crisis on a global scale have posited that less developed countries without a full-blown industrial base can skip industrialization all together and transition away from fossil fuels. Ideally, the development that will take place in this scenario would result in the construction of infrastructure for a post-fossil fuel society.
Tsleil-Waututh First Nation To fight Kinder Morgan Expansion
BC Local News
December 20, 2011
Kinder Morgan's plan to more than double its ability to send crude oil by pipeline through the Lower Mainland to tankers on Burrard Inlet will be opposed by the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation.
The company aims to twin its Trans Mountain pipeline from Alberta, boosting its capacity from 300,000 barrels per year to up to 700,000 and increasing the number of oil tankers that sail past downtown Vancouver.
Explorations pétrolières
Le danger est inévitable selon l’AVG
L’alliance « Voahary gasy » (AVG) a recommandé d’arrêter l’exploration et l’exploitation du pétrole con-conventionnel dans les sites de Bemolanga et de Tsimiroro. Toutes les activités liées à l’exploration ont actuellement des effets néfastes non seulement sur l’environnement et les richesses en biodiversité mais surtout sur la santé des communautés environnantes.
Harper miscalculated Keystone XL anger, opposition parties say
By Jessica Murphy ,Parliamentary Bureau
Monday, November 14, 2011
Bob Rae Liberal Leader Bob Rae speaks to the media following Question Period in the Foyer of the House of Commons at Parliament Hill in Ottawa Nov 14, 2011. (ANDRE FORGET /QMI AGENCY)
OTTAWA - The Harper government is underestimating the political weight the aversion to the Keystone XL pipeline and Alberta's oilsands has, opposition parties have charged.
