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.
Into the Muskeg Swamps of Northern Alberta
A Brief Ideological History of the Tar Sands
Earth First Journal
By Nickle
"This is not oil drilling. It's not even mining. It is
terrestrial skinning. Vast, vivid landscapes are being
gutted, left monochromatic gray." --NAOMI KLEIN
Unist’hot’en Camp II
*
August 12 – 15, 2011 in Wet’suwet’en Territory *
[ updates will be posted here: http://unistotencamp.wordpress.com
]
Wet’suwet’en seeks to operate a second camp building further resistance
to the large influx of industrial activities in our Indigenous Lands and
Waters, often with no consent or consultation, or consultation as a
final stage of development. The major focus of this camp is largely
educational and hopefully strategic. Last year the major focus was Tar
Sands and Pipelines, and training for current and future activists to
operate as a larger body to resist Tar Sands and affiliated
infrastructure and systemic support of Tar Sands expansion.
N.W.T. pushes federal government to back Mackenzie pipeline
By Rebecca Penty, Postmedia News July 18, 2011
CALGARY — Ottawa needs to ink a financial deal with backers of the Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline project by the end of the year, the Northwest Territories' Bob McLeod said following the exit of Royal Dutch Shell PLC from the partnership.
Let's expose the structure of violence that keeps the world economy running.
With an entire planet being slaughtered before our eyes, it's
terrifying to watch the very culture responsible for this - the culture
of industrial civilization, fueled by a finite source of fossil fuels,
primarily a dwindling supply of oil - thrust forward wantonly to fuel
its insatiable appetite for "growth."
Deluded by myths of progress and suffering from the psychosis of
technomania complicated by addiction to depleting oil reserves,
Shell wants out of Mackenzie pipeline project
CBC News
Jul 15, 2011
Shell Canada is planning to pull out of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline project and sell its assets in the region.
The company is trying to sell its share in the $16.2 billion natural gas project in the Northwest Territories, according to company documents obtained by CBC News.
Shell is part of a corporate consortium, led by Imperial Oil, that is backing the proposed pipeline. Other members of the consortium are Exxon Mobil Corp., ConocoPhillips, and the Aboriginal Pipeline Group.
Opti, partner in Nexen's Long Lake plant and originally spawned by Iraeli company Ormat in order to export "cogeneration" technology (burning waste gunk in house for power, regardless of climate impacts), has filed for bankruptcy protection. Rather than be good news for anti-tar sands campaigners in Alberta, this will provide Nexen with less questions as they try to jump start a flawed project.
Conflicting signals on pipeline expansion
Report suggests U.S. has 'tipped the scales' in favor of OKing permit for 2nd leg of Keystone project; not so, official says.
By Neela Banerjee • Tribune Newspapers STLtoday.com | Posted: Thursday, July 14, 2011 12:00 am
WASHINGTON • At a town hall meeting in Pennsylvania in early April, President Barack Obama was asked about a bitter fight between industry and environmentalists over a proposed $7 billion, 2,000-mile pipeline to ship crude from Alberta's oil sands to Gulf Coast refineries.
Should Alberta's cross-border oil pipeline be extended to Texas?
July 9, 2011
CBC News
Alberta's energy minister says he's going to push Ottawa to promote TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline to the U.S. government.
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?
Madagascar Oil and Total drop Africa’s biggest oil sands project
Frik Els | July 1, 2011
Madagascar Oil’s annual report released on Thursday shows the company is scuttling its project with French giant Total to develop a massive oil sand deposit on the island estimated to contain 1.2bn barrels of oil after three years of extensive work. The Bemolanga bitumen deposit adjacent the Tsingy de Bemaraha nature reserve (pictured) was first drilled in the late 1800s and would have cost upwards of $8bn to bring into operation.
