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.
"Indians: Oil sands development 'genocide'"
EDMONTON, Alberta, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- A Canadian Indian rights advocate claims oil sands development in Alberta is akin to genocide from water contamination on reservation lands.
Speaking at a conference in Edmonton Sunday, Mike Mercredi, 33, said death rates at the Fort Chipewyan reservation's 1,200 people 400 miles northeast of Edmonton were on the rise, the Edmonton Sun reported.
Mon, November 24, 2008
'It's killing us off'
Oilsands development a danger to aboriginal community: Band member
By KEVIN CRUSH, SUN MEDIA
Mike Mercredi, a community member of Fort Chipewyan, was on hand yesterday at Edmonton’s Native Friendship Centre to talk about the impact an oilsands development is having on his First Nations community.
Fort Chipewyan is facing a "genocide" from oilsands development, says a member of the First Nation.
Green groups ramp up attacks on oil sands
Claudia Cattaneo, Calgary Bureau Chief, Financial Post Published: Wednesday, November 19, 2008
CALGARY - Environmental organizations in Canada and the United States are stepping up their campaign to derail Alberta's oil sands and seeking funding from deep-pocketed endowments, including the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
TransCanada Pipelines is an official supplier to the 2010 Games.
This pipeline will provide enough gas to *almost triple* current already
insane tar sands production levels.
Lubicon lands will be destroyed so that the speed with which the
destruction of the tar sands advances through towards Fort Chip and
elsewhere can go up massively and much faster.
Little Buffalo still has no running water.
The lake has not been potable for a few decades now.
--M
TransCanada invades Lubicon Territory
... in order to "meet the public interest"?
Now this deserves a response.
Enbridge Gateway pipeline back on track in B.C.
Customers demanding new facilities despite sliding oil price
Scott Simpson, Vancouver Sun
Published: Thursday, November 13, 2008
Enbridge Inc. is shrugging off the effects of a sagging world economy to restart its dormant Northern Gateway pipelines project in British Columbia and Alberta.
Northern Gateway Pipelines communications director Neil Sweeney said in an interview that the project, which bore a $4.5-billion price tag when it was suspended in 2006, is likely to be submitted to the National Energy Board in 2009.
Big Oil's Pipe Dream
An interview with Dustin Johnson about the Gateway Pipeline
November 13, 2008
by Dawn Paley
The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca
PRINCE RUPERT and VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA–The Gateway Pipeline Project, proposed by Calgary-based Enbridge Gateway Pipelines Inc., would snake through the unceded territories of over 40 Native communities. If fully developed, the Gateway Pipeline would transport a half-million barrels of oil per day from Alberta's tar sands through sensitive ecosystems of BC's northwest coast.
Oil-shale projects are going ahead in Utah — for now
By Jasen Lee
Deseret News
Published: Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008 12:09 a.m. MST
The falling crude-oil prices of recent weeks will have little impact on the current oil-shale and tar-sands boom going on in eastern Utah, according to companies now working to develop the resources in the Uintah Basin.
Air- and water-monitoring program promised for Fort Chipewyan
Last Updated: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 | CBC
Alberta's environment minister said Monday he will support the creation of a program to help people in the northern part of the province check if their food, air or water is contaminated.
Rob Renner made the promise after meeting with representatives of First Nations in Fort Chipewyan, Alta.
'They are flexing their muscles'
Companies want to mine a remote region of B.C., but, unlike some previous bands, the Tahltan insist on controlling access to the area
MARK HUME
mhume@globeandmail.com
September 27, 2008
VANCOUVER -- Between the abandoned mining town of Cassiar and the struggling port of Stewart, in the northwest corner of British Columbia, Highway 37 runs through one of the most dramatic and resource-rich landscapes in Canada.
Keep 'world's dirtiest fuel' out of Quebec, green groups say
Enbridge project. Tar sands oil would flow by pipeline from Alberta
The Gazette
Thursday, November 06
Environmental groups want the Quebec government to stop a plan that would ship the dirtiest kind of oil from Alberta's tar sands projects through Quebec to the U.S. East Coast and on to Texas - with some possibly being refined in Montreal's east end.
