Oil Sands Truth: Shut Down the Tar Sands

Water

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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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.

How Shell lost the goodwill of stakeholders [Enviros greenwashing Shell].

Shell: Shifting Sands
From Canadian Business magazine, July 20, 2009
How Shell lost the goodwill of stakeholders.

Enbridge pushes Clipper pipeline project

Enbridge pushes pipeline project
3 July 2009

Enbridge's oil infrastructure projects are picking up pace

The need to add capacity to North America’s oil infrastructure will be resolved with the construction of a 1,000-mile long Canada to US oil pipeline set to begin in August.

Houston-headquartered Enbridge Energy’s pipeline is part of a construction project, Alberta Clipper and Southern Lights, on two pipelines designed to match demand for greater energy security.

Resistance to Enbridge Clipper [Minnesota, Wisconsin] Growing

Opponents Try Late Rally Against Enbridge Clipper
Published July 01 2009
Duluth News Tribune

Opponents of the Enbridge Alberta Clipper pipeline rallied Tuesday in Duluth to announce they are trying legal and political efforts to stop the oil pipeline.

Marty Cobenais, with the Indigenous Environmental Network, based in Bemidji, describes the pollution and environmental destruction caused by mining tar sands in Alberta at a news conference Tuesday in Duluth.

Access and benefits negotiations with Imperial Oil stalled [DFN]

Access and benefits negotiations with Imperial Oil stalled
Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, July 2, 2009

TTHEK'EHDELI/JEAN MARIE RIVER - Access and benefits negotiations between the Dehcho First Nation and Imperial Oil have stalled.

On June 24, DFN delegates attending the nations' annual assembly were informed by Shane Parrish that access and benefits negotiations with Imperial Oil for the Mackenzie Gas Project have hit an impasse.

"Enbridge ramps up to build" [Clipper and Southern Lights]

Enbridge ramps up to build
Published July 03 2009
Superior Telegram

Enbridge Energy is gearing up for construction of two pipelines designed to meet North American’s need for a reliable and secure energy supply.

The project includes construction of a 1,000-mile long, 36-inch diameter pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to Superior; the line includes 326 miles to be constructed in the U.S., capable of carrying 450,000 barrels per day from the oil sands in Canada to its terminal in Superior.

Book documents discarding of three decades of tar sands knowledge

Book documents discarding of three decades of oilsands knowledge
By Darcy Henton, Edmonton Journal
June 29, 2009

Some might call it '32 lost years.'

When Edmontonian Larry Pratt wrote his book Tarsands in 1976, he warned Albertans about the environmental, social and economic ramifications of rapid development of the oilsands, north of Fort McMurray. Thirty-two years later, Calgarian Andrew Nikiforuk provides in shocking detail in his book, also called Tarsands, just where that frenzied development has got us.

It raises the question: Where was everybody during those three decades?

Peak Oil And World Food Supplies

Peak Oil And World Food Supplies
By Peter Goodchild
29 June, 2009
Countercurrents.org

Only about 10 percent of the world’s land surface is arable, whereas the other 90 percent is just rock, sand, or swamp, which can never be made to produce crops, whether we use “high” or “low” technology or something in the middle. In an age with diminishing supplies of oil and other fossil fuels, this 10:90 ratio may be creating two gigantic problems that have been largely ignored.

Mackenzie pipeline timing 'uncertain'

Mackenzie pipeline timing 'uncertain'

Guy Quenneville
Northern News Services
Published Monday, June 29, 2009

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - When the Mackenzie Gas Project will begin producing natural gas - originally thought to be 2014 - is now "uncertain" due to regulatory delays, said Pius Rolheiser, spokesperson for Imperial Oil, adding that the project timeline will be revisited after the release of the Joint Review Panel's report.

Tribal members fight Enbridge [Clipper] oil pipeline

Tribal members fight Enbridge oil pipeline
Some members from Fond du Lac and Leech Lake bands will petition Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to block the Enbridge project.

By: John Myers, Duluth News Tribune

Saying the environmental damage to their native brothers’ land in Canada is too great, tribal dissidents on two Minnesota Indian reservations are battling a major new oil pipeline across northern Minnesota.

Could tar sands be behind high rates of cancer in Fort Chipewyan?

Could tar sands be behind high rates of cancer in Fort Chipewyan?
By Stephanie Dearing.
Published June 29, 2009

Is the extraction of oil from Alberta's tar sands responsible for the disproportionate increase in cancers in a down-stream community?

A northern Alberta First Nations community, sited down river from the tar sands, is suffering from a higher-than-normal incidence of cancer. Dr. John O'Connor was instrumental in drawing attention to the cancer rate. So why is he seen as a bad guy?

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