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.
Midwest oil mining a crude idea to many
Minneapolis City Pages
December 3, 2008 // By Beth Walton
Some 1,500 miles northwest of Minneapolis, the luscious green boreal forests that once lined the banks of the Athabasca River have been flattened. All that's left is an empty, lonely, gray moonscape. That, and the drills.
Polluted tar sands ponds leaking, report indicates
MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT / ENVIRONMENT REPORTER
December 9, 2008
The tailings ponds storing waste water left over from the processing of Alberta tar sands oil are leaking an estimated 11 million litres of contaminated water every day, according to a new report.
The figure, one of the first publicly available on the scale of the seepage from tailing ponds that dot the landscape in Northern Alberta, is being released today in a report by Environmental Defence, a Toronto-based conservation advocacy group.
Great Lakes, Great Peril: Oil and Water
Little city is at center of a great debate
Pipes link the Great Lakes with massive oil reserves in friendly Alberta. They may bring jobs, energy and pollution. And it's all happening as the century of oil gives way to the century of water.
By Dan Egan of the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Dec. 6, 2008
Great Lakes-Alberta tar sands connection
Journal Sentinel
First of two parts
Superior - U.S. dependence on foreign oil conjures images of derricks pecking at Saudi Arabian sands or supertankers steaming for coastal refineries.
Tar Sands: The worst fuel on the planet?
A Reporter's Notebook: "Midwest oil mining a crude idea to many: Are we now scraping the bottom of the barrel?"
Photo from chicagotribune.com. Taken by Jiri Rezac / WWF UK.
As Minnesota sanctions the transport and use of oil sands--the second largest reserve of usable crude in the world--it takes a prominent role in a transcontinental controversy.
Many argue our state is on the wrong side.
From dead birds to sick humans and fish, hardly anyone has anything positive to say about the new carbon intensive fuel polluting our air and water.
David Suzuki: Tar sand wealth comes with environmental costs
By David Suzuki and Faisal Moola
If you want to be scared, you don’t need to watch a horror movie or read the latest Stephen King bestseller.
Real terror can be found by simply firing up Google Earth, the computer program that allows users to look at satellite pictures of any place on the planet. By mousing over and zooming in, you can see what Alberta’s tar sands look like from space.
It is not a pretty sight. In fact, it’s scary—and for good reason.
B.C. government awards tenure to BP Canada for coalbed methane project
December 8//2008
VANCOUVER, B.C. - The provincial government has given the green light to a contentious coalbed methane project in southeastern B.C.
Energy minister Richard Neufeld says BP Canada has been awarded tenure for its Mist Mountain project, near Fernie in the East Kootenay region.
Billions of litres of tainted oilsands water leaking: Report
Mike De Souza, Canwest News Service
Published: Tuesday, December 09, 2008
OTTAWA - Oilsands production is releasing four billion litres of
contaminated water into Alberta's groundwater and natural ecosystems every
year, according to a new national report that was immediately dismissed as
"false" by the provincial government.
The annual volume of water pollution in 2007 would have been enough to
fill Toronto's Rogers Centre, but could be stopped if the federal
More time granted to comment on pipeline
Groups petitioned U.S. State Department on behalf of farmers, ranchers
Thom Gabrukiewicz • tgabrukiew@argusleader.com • December 6, 2008
People will have much more time to comment on the application for a presidential permit required to build TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL pipeline.
Mackenzie pipeline stakeholders ''disappointed'' at environmental review delay (Mackenzie-Delay)
CALGARY _ A panel examining the Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline project said Friday it will take another year to complete its long-awaited review in the latest setback for the multibillion-dollar plan that originally hoped to have gas flowing in 2009.
Tahltan Nation Applauds Government Decision to Suspend Coalbed Methane Development in the Sacred Headwaters
DEASE LAKE, BC, Dec. 5 /CNW/ - The Tahltan Central Council (TCC), the
organization responsible for protecting Tahltan Title and Rights, applauds
today's provincial government announcement to amend Shell Canada's petroleum
and natural gas tenure license. The amendment will stop Shell from exploring
and developing coalbed methane (CBM), a form of natural gas extracted from
coal beds, in the Klappan region. The Klappan is a region in northwestern
