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.
Canada oil sands slowdown may halt runaway costs
10.24.08
Canada - By Jeffrey Jones
CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - A slowdown in spending on multibillion-dollar projects to develop Canada's oil sands, one of the world's largest deposits of crude, should help cure one ailment the industry has so far been unable to shake: runaway inflation.
Enbridge weighs stake for aboriginals
From Herald News Services
Published: Saturday, October 25, 2008
Enbridge Inc. is considering offering aboriginal groups an equity stake in its planned 525,000-barrel-a-day Northern Gateway oilsands export pipeline in order to secure support for the project, a company official said Friday.
Enbridge, Canada's No. 2 pipeline company, is still working out details of how large a stake it would offer to native communities along the pipeline's route. As well, it has to firm up how any such stake would be financed.
Somebody local with a grudge targeting oilpatch?
Stephen Hume
Vancouver Sun
Monday, October 20, 2008
News of a second pipeline bombing in British Columbia's Peace River district splashed across headlines from New York to New Zealand.
Almost as quickly, anxious residents of Tomslake, about 700 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, speculated about al-Qaida, first nations militants and eco-extremists.
Trillions of dollars' worth of oil
High Stakes in Canada’s Vast Oil-Sands Fields
George Tombs, The Christian Science Monitor
The relentless search for oil has led explorers to the boreal forest of northeastern Alberta, among the jack pines and black spruce trees an hour's drive from the boom town of Fort McMurray. Kelly Hansen, operations manager at ConocoPhillips's $1 billion Surmont oil-sands plant, holds up the prize: a beaker of sticky black “synbit,” a 50-50 blend of bitumen (a viscous, tarlike petroleum) and synthetic oil.
OIL SANDS-PART 3: Biggest Customer Has Second Thoughts
By Chris Arsenault*
FT. MCMURRAY, Oct 20 (IPS) - As Canada's tar sands extraction expands full steam ahead, a perfect storm of internal and external opposition could derail some of the voracious growth at the world's largest energy project.
Together, skyrocketing construction costs, falling crude prices, increasingly vocal opposition from some native groups, and a little known section of the 2007 U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act all threaten growth projections in northern Alberta.
Nexen, Opti delay decision on next oil sands phase
Mon Oct 20, 2008 1:22pm EDT
CALGARY, Alberta, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Nexen Inc and Opti Canada Inc have postponed a decision to expand their new Long Lake, Alberta, oil sands project, citing the financial market crisis and uncertainty over costs to curb carbon emissions, a Nexen official said on Monday.
The partners in the C$6.1 billion ($5.1 billion) development, which is now in start-up mode, had expected to decide by the end of this year whether to begin work on twinning the project.
Positive step forward for pipeline
Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Published Monday, October 6, 2008
INUVIK - A major piece of the puzzle that is the Mackenzie Gas Project has fallen into place.
Access and benefits agreements have been reached between the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation and project proponents.
NNSL Photo/Graphic
Construction of the $16.2 billion Mackenzie Valley Pipeline is awaiting regulatory approval and the inking of access agreements similar to one signed by the Inuvialuit last week. - NNSL file photo
TransCanada work goes underwater
Saturday, Oct 18, 2008 - 12:45:47 pm CDT
YANKTON, S.D. - Crews are expected to begin working this week to bury pipe for the TransCanada Keystone oil pipeline 60 feet below the bed of the Missouri River at Yankton.
The project of 4-6 weeks will involve nearly a half-mile of 30-inch pipe.
The TransCanada underground pipeline will run from Canada through the eastern Dakotas and Nebraska to refineries in Illinois and Oklahoma.
Some pipe is already in place in northeast South Dakota.
OIL SANDS-PART 2: "Where I Come From Is Ground Zero"
By Chris Arsenault*
Michael Mercredi, a member of the Athabasca Chipewyan/Dene First Nation, says people in his small community are experiencing rare cancers because of the tar sands.
Credit:Chris Arsenault/IPS
FT. MCMURRAY, Oct 17 (IPS) - The wheels of the Caterpillar 797B, the world's largest truck, are always going round and round at Shell Canada's Albian Sands mine.
