Water

Melting of Arctic ice 'fascinating ... alarming'
Remaining ice is in precarious shape, scientists say
Margaret Munro // Canwest News Service
Thursday, October 02, 2008

For scientists, this year's ice season was like the NHL playoffs.

They placed bets, pored over satellite images, and speculated endlessly on how much Arctic ice would survive the summer.

"Everyone was following it," said Louis Fortier, scientific director of the Arcticnet, which funds and co-ordinates much of Canada's polar research. "It was like the hockey final."

Ottawa keeps pipeline projects on hold, industry says

Claudia Cattaneo, Financial Post Published: Wednesday, October 01, 2008

CALGARY -- Pipeline projects in Canada need timely government decisions, said Brenda Kenny, the president of the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association.

In speech in Calgary Wednesday, she said the penalty for delays is cost overruns and uncertainty.

"We are poised at this critical juncture to build the infrastructure necessary to deliver clean, reliable and affordable energy to all Canadians," she said.

Candidates speak in Fort Providence
Andrew Livingstone
Northern News Services
Published Monday, September 29, 2008

DEH GAH GOT'IE KOE/FORT PROVIDENCE - Candidates vying the Western Arctic's lone seat in Parliament got a chance Wednesday to show their colours at a federal candidates forum in Fort Providence.

All five candidates to appear on the ballot Oct. 14, including First Peoples Party of Canada candidate Noeline Villebrun were in attendance to answer questions from the Fort Providence community.

Hoeven, Pipeline Authority, Industry Officials Outline Petroleum Infrastructure Progress

Major Natural Gas Pipelines (298kb pdf)
Major Crude oil Pipelines (690kb pdf)
Natural Gas Processing Plants (17kb pdf)
Pipeline and Rail Capacity Expansion (513kb pdf)

Bismarck, N.D. – Gov. John Hoeven today was joined by petroleum and pipeline industry leaders, Oil and Gas Division Director Lynn Helms and Pipeline Authority Director Justin Kringstad to outline current and scheduled progress in expanding the state’s oil and gas production and processing infrastructure.

PM optimistic on Arctic gas
Reuters
Published: Thursday, August 28, 2008

TUKTOYAKTUK, N.W.T. -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper said yesterday he remains optimistic the $16.2-billion Mackenzie gas project in the Arctic will eventually proceed, despite years of delays.

The proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline, which would carry gas to markets in Canada and the United States from three large fields in the Mackenzie River Delta, has been mired in a lengthy regulatory process while costs have surged.

Harper said the project meant more to Canada than just a "commercial gas project."

Shut down the oilsands, NDP candidate urges
Tim Lai, Canwest News Service
Published: Thursday, September 25, 2008

VANCOUVER - Saying climate change may result in his two sons never seeing polar bears in the wild, a star NDP candidate from British Columbia called Thursday for the shutdown of Alberta's tarsands.

"We have to do something to address the climate change crisis, we need to do so now," said Michael Byers, the New Democrat hopeful in the key battleground riding of Vancouver Centre.

"We need to go after the big polluters, we need to shut the tarsands down."

PROPOSED OIL REFINERY IN MANDAN, HIDATSA, ARIKARA NATIONS' HOMELAND

“There is a reason that a new oil refinery has not been built in our USA for over 30 years, no one wants these proven extremely toxic & polluting industries in their back yard!”

Oilsands: Fowl play
Andrew Nikiforuk
From the September 29, 2008 issue of Canadian Business magazine

On a late July morning, 11 members of Greenpeace did what entrepreneurial activists do best: bold ventures. Armed with bolt cutters, the green crew drove north of Fort McMurray, Alta., severed a chain lock and then broke into Syncrude Canada Ltd.’s Aurora North settling basin, now known to millions around the world as the infamous watery graveyard for 500 migrating ducks. (Locals just call the waste pond “Dead Duck Lake.”)

Resource Council withdraws from lawsuit

Sep 24 2008 // Associated Press

Bismarck, N.D. (AP) The Dickinson-based Dakota Resource Council is withdrawing from a federal lawsuit over the TransCanada Keystone Pipeline.

DRC Board Chairman Roger Brenna says his group will keep its focus local by closely monitoring the pipeline construction.

The Natural Resources Defense Council says it will carry on the case, which challenges the U.S. State Department's environmental review of the pipeline.