Water

Tunnel Below Miss. River Among Keystone's Biggest Challenges
by Dennis Grubaugh, The Telegraph, Alton, Ill.
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
August 11, 2009

It's the ultimate in drilling challenges -- a tunnel 50 feet under the Mississippi River bottom, traversing a distance of 3,705 feet.

For those boring the way for the new TransCanada Keystone Oil Pipeline it's just part of the job and not even the biggest challenge in this region. That honor lies on the northern end of Illinois' Carlyle Lake, where the pipeline will span a distance of 4,500 feet.

Nuclear power's sick legacy

By Helen Caldicott

The noted American writer Mary McCarthy once famously observed of the equally
noted but politically discredited playwright Lillian Hellman: "every word she
utters is a lie, including 'and' and 'but' ". As we have seen over the past
10 years, the same can be said of the Howard Government from the
children-overboard scandal to "there will never be a GST" to "yes, there are
weapons of mass destruction in Iraq". Now - joined by misguided and
misinformed members of the ALP and a few scientists who should know better -

Pipeline spokesman says sinkholes filled in Gorge
Aug 14 2009
Associated Press

Grafton, N.D. (AP) A spokesman for the Keystone oil pipeline says crews have finished filling seven sinkholes in the scenic Pembina Gorge that were formed after horizontal drilling to bury pipe.

Spokesman Jeff Rauh says the North Dakota Forest Service and the state Public Service Commission approved the plans for repairing the sinkholes. He says the company will monitor them for about a month.

Officials said earlier the sinkholes were about 40 feet deep.

The Rock's most precious resource
Gordon Pitts

Rushoon, Nfld. — Globe and Mail Aug. 12, 2009

As a 17-year-old with an adventurous spirit, Ann-Marie Cheeseman spent part of last summer driving 40-ton trucks in the Alberta oil sands. She made big money for a Newfoundland teenager, clearing close to $3,000 a week.

But she doesn't want to return to the oil sands, leaving her family and friends in the harbour village of Rushoon on the wild, beautiful Burin Peninsula. “I'd go back to Alberta only if I had to,” she says firmly.

Members of First Nations along the corridor being discussed have said that such "consultations" should not take place, since they have already indicated an explicit NO to pipelines, tanker traffic, ports and more. Holding these very hearings is a clear VIOLATION of indigenous sovereignty. This position deserves support.

--M

Funding offered for Northern Gateway environmental assessment
By Amelia Bellamy-Royds August 7, 2009 05:25 pm

Developers move ahead with projects
By _Keith McNeill - Clearwater Times_

Published: August 10, 2009 5:00 AM

Run-of-the-river hydro projects have become a hot issue in this province
but three such projects north of Blue River are still going ahead.
According to Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. of Calgary, the proposed Bone
Creek (20 MW), Clemina Creek (9.9 MW) and Serpentine Creek (9.5 MW)
hydroelectric projects together would generate enough to power 21,000 homes if
the homes didn't mind receiving power service only in the spring and early

Alarm bells ring over acid rain
ANGELA HILL
The Prince Albert Daily Herald

The delicate ecosystems of the northern boreal forests are at risk of lasting damage due to acid rain from oilsands development, according to information compiled by the Saskatchewan Environmental Society.

The tar sands pipeline and Obama’s carbon commitments
August 11, 2009
by Sheila McNulty

The Obama Administration has made a big show about its desire to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

But actions speak louder than words.

Environmentalists want to see the Administration underline its commitment to reduce carbon by rejecting a permit for a pipeline carrying fuel for Canada’s carbon-intensive oil sands into the US.

Canada's dirty oil may disrupt Obama's clean energy plans
August 10
John Guerrerio

Trading our dependence upon 'bloody oil' for 'dirty oil' does not solve the problem.

ACFN member climbs flagpole to protest oilsands
Activists call on wife of RBC CEO to help protect communities

By SHAWN BELL, SRJ Reporter 05.AUG.09

An Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation member climbed a 50-foot flagpole in downtown Toronto on July 29 to protest the Royal Bank of Canada’s (RBC) involvement in financing the oilsands.
Eriel Deranger was one of two Rainforest Action Network (RAN) protesters who hung a 30-foot high banner in front of RBC’s Canadian headquarters, calling on the wife of RBC’s CEO to encourage her husband to withdraw financing for new oilsands projects.