Social Impacts

Alberta seeks more Keystone pipeline support
CBC News
July 9, 2011

Alberta's energy minister says he's going to push the federal government to more actively promote TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline to the American government.

In an interview airing Saturday on CBC Radio's The House, Ron Liepert said he expects to meet with Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver before the federal-provincial energy ministers conference at the end of July and will push for some help convincing the Americans to approve the pipeline.

Oil giant Total pauses Madagascar tar sands plans – for now

7 July 2011

This Monday WDM campaigners came to the office with big smiles on their faces. Over the weekend, we’d heard that French Oil giant Total, subject to one of our latest online actions, had apparently cancelled its plans to mine tar sands in Madagascar.

High fives all around. Or?

Jordanian Senate endorses laws ratifying oil shale agreements
June 29, 2011
Jordan Times

Climate Change: It's bad and getting worse
Severe weather events are wracking the planet, and experts warn of even greater consequences to come.
Dahr Jamail
Al Jazeera, June 23, 2011

The rate of ice loss in two of Greenland's largest glaciers has increased so much in the last 10 years that the amount of melted water would be enough to completely fill Lake Erie, one of the five Great Lakes in North America.

Enviros, celebs plan W.H. protest
POLITICO [reprinted in the Seattle PI]
Published 03:41 a.m., Thursday, June 23, 2011

A group of environmentalists and liberal celebrities are organizing civil disobedience protests at the White House against a proposed oil pipeline - with the emphasis on "civil."

In an open letter, actor Danny Glover, activists Bill McKibben, James Hansen, David Suzuki and others ask for volunteers willing to risk arrest at the White House from mid-August to Labor Day.

But they don't want downtown Washington to look like Vancouver after the Stanley Cup Finals.

Oil sands activity, not wolves, threatens Canadian caribou
June 22, 2011

OilSandsLoader

Four years of research has found that exploration and mining of Canada's oil sands appear to pose a much greater threat to the remaining herds of Alberta's caribou than does being eaten by packs of wolves.

The findings, by a team of Canadian and U.S. researchers, caution Alberta authorities against pouncing on a proposed quick fix: killing off wolves to save the caribou from extinction.

Neighbors wary of tar sands refinery in Detroit
By Eartha Jane Melzer | 06.23.11

The Marathon refinery in southwest Detroit is expanding in order to process more Canadian tar sands crude oil, a move it admits will increase pollution in a neighborhood already burdened by industrial contamination.

The Detroit Free Press reports that many want to leave the neighborhood and that Marathon has bought up some of the homes around its 81 year-old factory for use as parking lots or green space.

Shell – Chevron – Marathon, Game Over

After Gutenberg Blog: June 23, 2011

While this blog disagreed with Hansen’s position on nuclear power for base-load electric power, this blog agreed with the position this leading climate scientist takes on tar sands. Treehugger began their interview on Climate Change and Intergenerational Justice by noting Hansen’s concern: “the phase out of emissions from coal is, itself, an enormous challenge. However, if the tar sands are thrown into the mix, it’s essentially game over.” And, James Hansen elaborated upon his aversion to such development.

June 27, 2011

Feds fund Shells CO2 project general newsCalgary, Alberta – Shell has secured $865 million in funding from the federal and Alberta governments for a project to store CO2 from its tar sands operations.

The Quest Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project is intended to capture more than one million tonnes of CO2 per year from Shell’s Scotford Upgrader near Edmonton, which processes heavy oil from the Athabasca oil sands, and permanently store it deep underground. Quest would be the first application of CCS technology for an oil sands upgrading operation, the company said.

The threat to Madagascar from tar sands; a first hand account

23 May, 2011 - 15:19

Environmental campaigner Holly Rakotondralambo from Madagascar is visiting the UK this week to highlight the threat to her country from proposals to mine tar sands there. Here she tells WDM about the concerns of the local communities around the mining areas that she has visited and what we can do to help stop the threat of tar sands mining in her country.

Holly Rakotondralambo talks to Liz Murray of WDM in Scotland