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.
Downstream from tarsands, Fort Smith worries over water
Monday, April 21, 2008
CBC News
Concerned residents in Fort Smith, N.W.T., met Saturday to talk about the water they drink, and how tarsands development south of the town may be affecting its quality.
"We don't know the answers. We don't know what's in our water," resident Keith Hartery said at Saturday night's public meeting in Fort Smith, located on the N.W.T.-Alberta border.
April 22, 2008
The Political Economics of Greenwashing
Green as a Blackjack Table
By STAN COX
Hard times are looming. And in their desperation to keep the American economy afloat, government and business will be tossing overboard any proposals for real environmental protection. No time for such romantic foolishness when there are investments to be protected. Get those tax refunds back into retailers' registers, quick!
Signed, sealed, delivered
Posted: April 21, 2008 // Indian Country Today
by: Stephanie Woodard
Environmental concerns plague fast-tracked oil pipeline
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - In March 2008, the U.S. Department of State issued a federal permit for the 2,000-mile TransCanada Keystone Pipeline, which would carry heavy crude oil from the oil sands of northern Alberta across seven U.S. states to Oklahoma. The document was signed, even though mandated government-to-government consultations with concerned Native nations were described as ''ongoing'' by the State Department.
Poor leadership nudged push for eminent domain (S Dakota)
Apr 20, 2008
Eminent domain is now front and center in the TransCanada Keystone Pipeline project.
Eminent domain, according to library.findlaw.com, is sometimes called "condemnation," and is the legal process by which a public body (and certain private bodies, such as utility companies, railroads, redevelopment corporations and -- in this case -- a pipeline company) is given the legal power to acquire private property for a use that has been declared to be public by a constitution, statute or ordinance.
China's thirst for oil isn't being quenched by Albertan crude
Relations between Canada and 'the dragon' are at a 30-year low, expert says
Shaun Polczer, Canwest News Service
April 21, 2008
Despite Asia's insatiable thirst for oil, the prospects for oil exports from Alberta to the Far East are growing more remote by the day, a leading China expert said in Calgary last week.
Report: BP Sent Talking Points to Governor
InsideINdianaBusiness.com Report
The Office of Governor Mitch Daniels is denying any intervention on behalf of BP Whiting's request for an air permit after the Gary Post-Tribune reports that the company maintained contact with state officials. The Post-Tribune obtained materials include talking points, advance copies of newspaper ads and company responses to media inquiries.
The Post-Tribune also reports that BP met with state officials prior to a public hearing on the air permit.
Rain doesn't halt BP protest
By Erik Potter
(Chicago) Post-Tribune
April 21, 2008
Mother Earth was feeling a little crabby on Saturday's Earth Day activities in Whiting.
Rain pounded the area all day, but subsided long enough for the group of area residents and environmentalists to hold an outdoors rally at Whiting's Whihala County Park.
The group was protesting the $3.8 billion expansion of the BP's Whiting Refinery facility, which will allow it to process crude oil extracted from Canadian tar sand.
Whiting hosts Earth Day event
BY DEBORAH LAVERTY
Sunday, April 20, 2008
WHITING | A San Francisco-based environmentalist on Saturday encouraged a group gathered at an Earth Day event to get involved to make a difference.
"Industry is unaccountable. ... On the other side we're seeing people stand up to them when they get organized and get educated. You're invincible," said Ruth Breech, of Global Community Monitor.
They Can't Just Walk All Over Us: Farmers Resiste a Pipeline
Kari Lydersen, April 2008, The Progressive
Carlisle Kelly saved money from his Amtrak job for years to buy one of the last remaining wooded pieces of land in the expansive farm country of central Illinois . Because, as he tells it, "I'm crazy about the animals." An avid hunter and outdoorsman, he wanted to preserve the ancient oaks on a rare hilly, neverfarmed area near LeRoy, Illinois, and restore farmland back into native foliage for wild turkeys and deer.
Alberta plans to satisfy world's oilsands concerns
Expansion must be done responsibly, premier says
RENATA D'ALIESIO, Calgary Herald
Published: Friday, April 18, 2008
Alberta must develop its energy resources in a responsible and sustainable way because the eyes of the world are closely watching, Premier Ed Stelmach said Thursday.
In particular, they're eyeing the oilsands and how the second-largest reserve in the world is developed. Stelmach noted $20 billion of new investment is projected for the oilsands this year, according to Statistics Canada.
