Water

This Op-Ed was refused publication by the New York Times.

by Charles Hall and Nate Gagnon

EROEI.com (March 23 2007)

Op-Ed Editor, New York Times:

The recent front page article "Oil innovations pump new life into old
wells" by Jad Mouawad (March 5 page 1) is dangerously misleading. The
author would have us believe that technological innovations will
increase the proportion of oil recoverable from known fields
sufficiently to compensate for the dearth of new discoveries. It gives
a false sense of security about our difficult oil situation based on a

It’s time to rethink harmful tar sands projects
By Roy Strang - Peace Arch News
February 17, 2009

There may, after all, be a small silver lining in the dark fiscal cloud hanging over us.

It’s so small that it’s hard to discern amidst the monetary gloom, but it’s there nonetheless.

The unspoken part of this "unpalatable" duality is that green-minded folks have just such an equally repulsive "choice". Either be "unreasonable" and "not a part of the solution" by pointing out that CCS and all other Climate Change in the tar sands "solutions" are nonsense, especially when one sees the forms of emissions yet to come from the In Situ developments. There is no solving the climate crisis, preventing deforestation, preserving the Mackenzie River Basin or using the remaining natural gas on Turtle Island in a sane manner-- unless we also prevent the tar sands from operating.

Alberta gets fresh black eye with oilsands coverage
By Kelly Cryderman, Canwest News ServiceFebruary 22, 2009

CALGARY - It seems the Alberta government can't catch a break.

To add to the long list of international publications that have focused on the environmental costs of the oilsands, National Geographic chose its March edition to splash images of the development - with at least four pictures depicting unsightly tailings ponds - across its pages alongside an article.

Pipeline leak in northeastern B.C. was not sabotage
Friday, February 20, 2009
CBC News

Two pipeline workers were injured by a leak in a northeastern B.C. natural gas pipeline, but the incident was not another case of sabotage, an official said.

Spectra Energy spokeswoman Rosemary Silva said Friday two workers were doing routine maintenance on a 45-centimetre pipeline when the breach occurred.

The two workers were taken to hospital with minor injuries and one was later released, she said.

Such an article as the one below is a very good thing to see, in a certain sense. It means, of course, that stage one & two of social action against the tar sands have now been passed: stage one is they ignore you, and two is they ridicule you. Three, of course-- so goes the old saying, anyhow-- is that we are violently opposed.

Baker Lake hunters, elders oppose uranium mine
"Like part of their spirit."
February 20, 2009
JOHN BIRD

Joan Scottie was on the front lines 20 years ago when the community of Baker Lake said an historic "no" to uranium mining - and she's still fighting the same battle today.

But this time, key Inuit organizations have switched sides.

"I'm frustrated with our aboriginal organizations," Scottie said. "They are the ones who are supposed to represent us. Instead, they are getting revenue in millions of dollars from the mining companies for our hunting grounds."

*Ottawa, Canada, February 19, 2009 –* United States President Barack Obama
is meeting today with Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada for his first
foreign visit as a President. The main discussion will center on trade
between the two nations as well as topics of environment, climate and energy
security in North America. Obama's concerns about implementing an agenda for
a clean and green energy economy highlights' Canada's oil sands, a vast
potential oil source that comes at a big cost to the environment and the

INTERVIEW-
NASA's Hansen concerned about Canada's oil sands
Wed Feb 18, 2009 5:41pm GMT

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent

WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Canada's oil sands are an environmental "wild card," NASA's James Hansen said in an interview before President Barack Obama's trip to Ottawa, where energy and climate change will be on the agenda.

As director of the U.S. space agency's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City, with a focus on climate change, Hansen has long opposed the burning of oil, gas and coal for their contribution to global warming.

Canada’s Tar-Sands Oil Can Be ‘Clean,’ Obama Says
By Jim Efstathiou Jr.

Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Oil extracted from tar sands in Canada can be made a clean energy source, and the U.S. will work with its northern neighbor to develop the technology, President Barack Obama said.