Oil Sands Truth: Shut Down the Tar Sands

Water

Water is needed in huge amounts in tarsands production and in all other construction stages of tarsands infrastructure across the continent. It takes five litres of water to produce one of usable petrol. There is also water used to move gas, build new tar pits or that water which becomes polluted in the outlying areas. Waste tailings ponds are so vast as to be visible from outer space at this early point in production. Water is now being privatized in slow motion, as “access rights” are available in Alberta. As production grows and climate change continues to parch southern Albertan land, more and more water will be needed to help supply fuel for the American market. This water will ultimately be diverted from rivers, lakes, farms and cities throughout Canada; the water levels in the Athabasca River have already dropped several meters. The Deh Cho/Mackenzie River is already threatened, both from development along its valley and it is downstream from tar sands operations. A generation ago, the Athabasca River was clear and drinking was common. Now, those that live with the river consider it poison and off-limits.

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Keystone Pipeline to Threaten Water? South Dakota

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.

"Playing politics with pipe" -- Oilweek

Playing politics with pipe

TransCanada’s Keystone project wins NEB approval, but disdain from unions for exporting refining jobs to the United States

Dale Lunan

Back in the day, opposition to big-inch pipeline projects would come from a host of stakeholders with a direct connection to any new pipeline: First Nations protecting sacred grounds and traditional hunting territories; environmentalists concerned about the impact of pipeline construction on fragile ecosystems; farmers and ranchers worried about the loss, temporary or otherwise, of productive land.

Citing 'safety concerns,' feds fight LNG project back east -- but not along BC's coast.

Unstable Mix: Politics and Liquefied Natural Gas
PM Harper: Opposes LNG shipments through New Brunswick waters.
Citing 'safety concerns,' feds fight LNG project back east -- but not along BC's coast.
By Rob Annandale
October 11, 2007
TheTyee.ca

Chuck Childress moved to "paradise" over 40 years ago. He enjoys nature, but this veteran of the mining, construction and pulp and paper industries is no enviro-fundamentalist.

Tar Sands and Water: Fort MacKay and Fort Chipewyan (Video)

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:

Oil Versus Water

Oil Versus Water
Toxic water poses threat to Alberta's Indigenous communities
by Kim Petersen
The Dominion

Alberta is replete with precious oil. Recovery of that oil from the tar sands, however, is putting another precious resource at risk: water. Dene and Cree First Nations people live close to and in the midst of the largest tar sand deposit in the Athabasca River region and oil extraction is harming their water supply.

Water needs for potential oil shale industry could complicate thing (Colorado)

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.

Keystone: Commissioners say they're not against pipeline (N Dakota)

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.

Tar Sands: Grist

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.

Everyone's Downstream: A Conference on Tar Sands Realities and Resistance

Everyone’s Downstream: Tar Sands Realities and Resistance
Conference to be held at:
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
November 24-25th, 2007
http://oilsandstruth.org

Don't sacrifice the Sacred Headwaters

The Globe and Mail
WONDER OF GEOGRAPHY
Don't sacrifice the Sacred Headwaters
WADE DAVIS
Explorer-in-residence, National Geographic Society
October 8, 2007

In a rugged knot of mountains, in the remote reaches of northern British Columbia, lies a stunningly beautiful valley known to the first nations as the Sacred Headwaters. There, on the southern edge of the Spatsizi Wilderness - the Serengeti of Canada - are born in remarkably close proximity three of Canada's most important salmon rivers: the Stikine, Skeena and Nass.