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.
Fish death in oil patch
By GABRIEL ZARATE, SRJ Reporter 02.JUL.08
Alberta Environment is investigating an unexplained fish die-off in a reservoir in the Athabasca oil patch. The reservoir was built in the 1970s to divert the waters of Beaver Creek away from a nearby Syncrude oil sands mine, which is no longer active.
“There is no evidence that the incident was caused by contamination from that site,” said Alberta Environment spokesperson Cheryl Robb.
Hatch and Bennett say one-year ban hurts U.S. energy independence
Utah senators slam congressional oil-shale development moratorium
By Patty Henetz
The Salt Lake Tribune
07/02/2008
A congressional moratorium on oil shale leasing and development hurts an established industry's efforts to find investors and imperils the nation's hopes for energy independence, Utah's senators said Tuesday.
Monitoring office faces delay
Guy Quenneville
Northern News Services
Published Monday, June 30, 2008
RADILIH KOE'/FORT GOOD HOPE - The Yamoga Land Corp. in Fort Good Hope is moving forward with plans to open an office that will monitor the activities of oil, gas and mining companies exploring around Fort Good Hope and Colville Lake, despite difficulties finding staff for the office.
West River Oil Pipeline Plans
In a few weeks, TransCanada will begin construction on its Keystone pipeline in eastern South Dakota.
But Monday the Candadian company was busy talking with South Dakotans on the western side of the state about a second proposed crude oil pipeline called the Keystone XL. TransCanada says the second line is in response to the high demand for oil in the United States.
Greenpeace takes poke at Alberta oil sands
The Canadian Press
June 27, 2008
CALGARY -- Greenpeace is stepping up pressure on the environmental record of Alberta's oil sands with a tongue-in-cheek website that offers mock tours of the province's industrial northeast.
The site, with an address similar to the province's official tourism website, tempts travellers with black sand beaches, toxic lakes and clearcut forests.
It recommends starting the day with a "propane cannon wake-up call" and suggests a little open-pit paragliding over the vast oil sands mines.
By Michael Klare
Truth and consequences in the last days of cheap oil
At the hastily convened global oil summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on June 28, top officials of producing and consuming nations from around the world attempted to find a combination of solutions that would somehow extricate us from the current crisis over sky-high energy prices. These proposals ranged from increased output by major producers like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to restrictions on the activities of international oil speculators.
Macdonald Stainsby gives http://h2opodcast.com/ an overview of the tar sands, their history in development, why now, the connection to the war on terror & Iraq, trade deals, expansion of the temporary foreign worker programs in such development, violation of indigenous nations' self-determination and environmental destruction unparalleled in the world. (Part I of II)
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Part II of II:
Macdonald Stainsby gives http://h2opodcast.com/ an overview of the tar sands, their history in development, why now, the connection to the war on terror & Iraq, trade deals, expansion of the temporary foreign worker programs in such development, violation of indigenous nations' self-determination and environmental destruction unparalleled in the world. Part II of II.
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New warning from US climate change prophet
* Andrew Revkin, Washington
June 24, 2008
TWENTY years ago yesterday, James Hansen, a climate scientist at NASA, told the world that he was "99%" certain that humans were already warming the climate.
"The greenhouse effect has been detected, and it is changing our climate now," Dr Hansen said then, referring to a string of warm years and the accumulating blanket of heat-trapping carbon dioxide and other gases emitted mainly by the burning of fossil fuels and forests.
Prentice says Mackenzie pipeline will advance Canada’s interests
THE CANADIAN PRESS // 23/05/08
CALGARY — The Mackenzie pipeline — long beset by regulatory snags and cost overruns — will “undoubtedly advance” Canada’s national interests once it is built, but control over the project must remain in private-sector hands, said Industry Minister Jim Prentice.
