Oil Sands Truth: Shut Down the Tar Sands

Water

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.

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Lifting moratoria to create pipeline and tanker ‘energy corridor’

Issues - We’re in for a whale of a time
Lifting moratoria to create pipeline and tanker ‘energy corridor’
CHRIS GENOVALI / raincoast.org
Week of September 4, 2008

Canada Needs a National Water Policy That Bans Bulk Water Exports

Canada Needs a National Water Policy That Bans Bulk Water Exports
by Dana Gabriel // 8/29/08

Suncor Plant Outage Will Increase Dirty Oil Volumes

Suncor oil sands plant outage means less light oil
Tue Sep 2, 2008 5:15pm EDT

CALGARY, Alberta, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Suncor Energy Inc (SU.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Tuesday it expects a processing unit at one of its oil sands upgrading plants to be off line for up to 90 days, changing the mix of its output but not cutting overall production.

Suncor, which runs Canada's second largest oil sands mining and synthetic crude operations, said a hydrogen plant at the northern Alberta site suffered an unscheduled outage in August.

Canada pushing to exploit Alberta's tar sands

Canada pushing to exploit Alberta's oil sand
Rob Gillies, Associated Press
Sunday, August 31, 2008
(08-31) 04:00 PDT Fort McMurray, Alberta

The largest dump truck in the world is parked under a huge mechanical shovel waiting to transport 400 tons of oily sand at an open pit mine in the northern reaches of Alberta.

Each Caterpillar 797B heavy hauler - three stories high, with tires twice as tall as the average man - carries the equivalent of 200 barrels of heavy oil worth nearly $23,000 per haul at today's prices.

ALABAMA VOICES: Drilling not answer

ALABAMA VOICES: Drilling not answer
August 31, 2008

First of two parts
By John Ackerman

Over the past few months there has been a great deal written about our dependency on fossil fuels and an alternative to this dilemma called "drill here, drill now, pay less" was offered.

Why an oil refinery [in South Dakota] is a step in the wrong direction

Peter Carrels : Why an oil refinery is a step in the wrong direction
Saturday, August 23, 2008

In South Dakota, politicians and business leaders are cheering a massive oil refinery planned for the state’s southeast corner. If built, it will be the first oil refinery constructed in the United States in more than 30 years.

Canada's Harper Says Mackenzie Pipeline to `Come to Fruition'

By Theophilos Argitis and Alexandre Deslongchamps

Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he is ``optimistic'' Imperial Oil Ltd.'s Mackenzie pipeline project will ``come to fruition.''

``I am optimistic that in the not-too-distant future this project will come to fruition,'' Harper told reporters today in the village of Tuktoyaktuk on the shores of the Arctic Ocean.

Groups Sue Feds to Stop Keystone Pipeline

*Groups sue feds to stop pipeline*
*By Janell Cole*
*State Capitol Bureau - 08/08/2008*

BISMARCK — Environmental groups, including one from North Dakota, have sued
the U.S. State Department to stop the TransCanada Keystone Pipeline, saying
the government failed to fully consider its health and environmental hazards
before giving approval.

The listed hazards include global warming.

The company said there is nothing wrong with how the federal government
examined the line's environmental impacts.

The Natural Resources Defense Fund, Dakota Resource Council of Dickinson,

Shell slammed over "sustainable" tar sands advert

ASA rules advert claiming tar sands projects are part of a "sustainable future" is misleading
James Murray, BusinessGreen, 13 Aug 2008

Oil giant Shell has once again had its knuckles rapped by the watchdog for overstating its green credentials after it claimed in an advert that its $10bn oil sands project in northern Canada represented a "sustainable energy source".

Take Charge: Dirty Work in Alberta

Take Charge: Dirty Work in Alberta
By Morgan Goodwin - August 26, 2008
Take Charge Campaign

This newsletter is provided by the Take Charge Campaign, a local initiative to encourage and to help people to conserve energy. It is published twice a month.

This week in Dirty Energy: Alberta Tar Sands

What's happening in the Alberta tar sands in Canada is the most destructive project on Earth, according to Environmental Defence. Thousands of square miles of tundra are being scraped away to harvest an oil-rich layer of earth between 10 and 80 feet deep.