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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High-frequency trades cited for OPTI share surge

OPTI, in partnership with Nexen, is parented by Israeli corporation Ormat (who also own many shares in the ostensibly Canadian OPTI) and uses the worst climate changing form of procedure available-- borrowed from Ormat who patented it in historical Palestine as "Or Crude", called "cogeneration" in Canada. It's a procedure of burning the waste gunk from the bottom of a previously extracted barrel to power the operations of getting more bitumen.

Inuvik businesses hit by MGM Energy's drilling delay

Inuvik businesses hit by MGM Energy's drilling delay
Friday, September 18, 2009
CBC News

Some businesses in Inuvik, N.W.T., have less work lined up for the coming months after a Canadian gas exploration company said it won't explore in the region this winter.

MGM Energy Corp. announced this week that it will postpone drilling in the Mackenzie Delta region in the 2009-10 winter drilling season, citing continued uncertainty surrounding the proposed Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline project.

Greenpeace Ends Shutdown Occupation of Albian Sands Muskeg River Mine

Greenpeace ends Alberta oilsands protest
Last Updated: Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Protesters from Greenpeace occupied two dump trucks and unfurled a banner on the ground at Shell's Albian Sands oilsands site in northern Alberta Tuesday.

The Greenpeace protest at the Albian Sands oilsands site north of Fort McMurray, Alta., ended peacefully Wednesday afternoon after the company and RCMP agreed to let the protesters leave without facing any charges.

The deal was revealed after protesters met with Shell officials and the RCMP.

Residents of Peace River region call gas development 'a tsunami' as saboteur's deadline passes

BC Pipeline Bombings
Residents of Peace River region call gas development 'a tsunami' as saboteur's deadline passes

Chris Arsenault
Vue Weekly, September 15, 2009.

As Obama and Harper meet, activists block mine and company faces trial

U.S., Canada ties get messy with oil sands issue
As Obama and Harper meet, activists block mine and company faces trial
Sept. 16, 2009
MSNBC

WASHINGTON - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Wednesday met with President Barack Obama at the White House, bringing with him some environmental baggage: Activists back home were squatting at a huge open pit mine used to get oil from tar sands, while a company this week pleaded not guilty to charges it was negligent in the deaths of 1,600 birds that flew into a tar sands waste reservoir.

Syncrude pleads not guilty to duck deaths

Syncrude pleads not guilty to duck deaths
September 15, 2009
ROLAND CILLIERS
Fort McMurray Today staff

Syncrude Canada is pleading not guilty to government charges laid as a result of 1,606 birds that were killed on the companies work-site last year.

Tar sands under attack on environment globally

Oil sands under attack on environment

The industry is accustomed to defending its image in North America, but it now faces a multifront war, with opposition growing from Norway to Washington

Shawn McCarthy

Ottawa — Globe and Mail
Sep. 15, 2009

The environmental battle over Alberta's oil sands is going global, forcing the industry to respond to new attacks on its record and putting fresh pressure on Ottawa.

Protests in Britain target Canada's tar sands

Protests in Britain target Canada's oilsands
Updated Sat. Sep. 5 2009
Ian Munroe, CTV.ca News

A handful of First Nations activists returned home last week after grabbing national headlines in England for protesting Alberta's oilsands developments.

They had travelled to a London suburb as part of a week-long gathering of several thousand environmental campaigners, dubbed the Climate Camp.

Among other concerns, the First Nations group hoped to pressure British Petroleum to halt plans for an oilsands extraction project in northern Alberta.

Tar czar: Ignatieff panders to Alberta's Big Oil

Tar czar: Ignatieff panders to Alberta's Big Oil
By Derrick O'Keefe
September 9, 2009

Near the end of Michael Ignatieff’s True Patriot Love -- an exploration of the men in his mother’s family rushed to publication in an effort to assert his Canadian bona fides -- we are treated to a play-by-play of the road trip he and his wife took in 2000, retracing the pioneering sea-to-sea journey of his great-grandfather.

Grizzlies starve as salmon disappear

Grizzlies starve as salmon disappear
As salmon numbers drop, bears are also few and far between along B.C.'s wild central coast – signalling what conservationists say is an unfolding ecological disaster
Mark Hume
Vancouver — From Wednesday's Globe and Mail Sep. 09, 2009

First the salmon vanished, now the bears may be gone too.