Tar Sands 101
The Tar Sands "Gigaproject" is the largest industrial project in human history and likely also the most destructive. The tar sands mining procedure releases at least three times the CO2 emissions as regular oil production and is slated to become the single largest industrial contributor in North America to Climate Change.
The tar sands are already slated to be the cause of up to the second fastest rate of deforestation on the planet behind the Amazon Rainforest Basin. Currently approved projects will see 3 million barrels of tar sands mock crude produced daily by 2018; for each barrel of oil up to as high as five barrels of water are used.
Human health in many communities has seriously taken a turn for the worse with many causes alleged to be from tar sands production. Tar sands production has led to many serious social issues throughout Alberta, from housing crises to the vast expansion of temporary foreign worker programs that racialize and exploit so-called non-citizens. Infrastructure from pipelines to refineries to super tanker oil traffic on the seas crosses the continent in all directions to allthree major oceans and the Gulf of Mexico.
The mock oil produced primarily is consumed in the United States and helps to subsidize continued wars of aggression against other oil producing nations such as Iraq, Venezuela and Iran.
To understand the tar sands in more depth, continue to our Tar Sands 101 reading list
Tar sands experts on tap for town hall
Tar sands experts on tap for town hall
by Jennifer Feinberg - Chilliwack Progress
Mar 5, 2014
The risks and the realities of pipelines are the focus of a town hall meeting March 7 at the Best Western Rainbow Country Inn, hosted by the PIPE UP Network.
The timing has to do with the National Energy Board gearing up for hearings on the proposed pipeline project by Kinder Morgan, which is planned to cut through communities across the Lower Mainland.
Tar Sands Oil's new Arctic passage to Europe
Oil’s new Arctic passage to Europe
Jeffrey Jones
Calgary — The Globe and Mail
Aug. 15 2013
As some of the biggest players in Canada’s oil industry fight for proposals to move the product west, south and east, a new plan is emerging to move crude north.
Omnitrax Inc., a private U.S. company that owns Churchill, Man.’s port, may provide a new channel for moving crude to markets on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
Canadian group pitches Alaska rail line for tar sands
Canadian group pitches Alaska rail line for oil sands
Posted on February 4, 2014
By Jennifer Canfield
Juneau Empire
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Could a $15 billion railroad project reduce the cost of living in Alaska overnight? Matt Vickers, a lead member in the startup group G7G Railway Corp., thinks it can.
Suncor posts gains from Canadian tar pits
Suncor posts gains from Canadian oil sands
Feb. 4, 2014
CALGARY, Alberta, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Suncor Inc., the premier developer of Canadian oil sands, said production set a record in the fourth quarter with 409,600 barrels of oil per day.
Mining Tar Sands Produces Much More Air Pollution Than We Thought
Mining Tar Sands Produces Much More Air Pollution Than We Thought
Research shows that emissions of a class of air pollutants are two to three orders of magnitude higher than previously calculated
By Joseph Stromberg
February 3, 2014es
Environmental health risks of Alberta oil sands likely underestimated: study
Environmental health risks of Alberta oil sands likely underestimated: study
John Cotter
EDMONTON — The Canadian Press
Feb. 03 2014
A new study suggests the environmental health risks of oilsands operations in Alberta’s Athabasca region have probably been underestimated.
Researchers say emissions of potentially hazardous air pollution that were used in environmental reviews done before approving some projects did not include evaporation from tailings ponds or other sources, such as dust from mining sites.
Tar Sands Fuel Headed to Massachusetts
Tar Sands Fuel Headed to Massachusetts
By ecoRI News staff
Massachusetts motorists will soon be filling their tanks with gas increasingly derived from Canadian tar sands oil, according to a new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
Keystone-Resisting Landowners See Cash Offers Skyrocket
Keystone-Resisting Landowners See Cash Offers Skyrocket
Jan 26, 2014
Huff Post (Canada)
PAGE, Neb. - Cash offers have been skyrocketing, as much as seven-fold, for holdout Nebraska landowners who are willing to sign quickly to allow the Keystone XL pipeline onto their property.
The landowners say they've received written offers from pipeline builder TransCanada Corp. in the last few weeks offering exponentially more money than initially promised, on the condition that they sign soon.
Canada tar sands set to benefit from EU 2030 climate plan
Canada tar sands set to benefit from EU 2030 climate plan
Last updated on 24 January 2014, 10:11 am
By John McGarrity
Oil from Canada’s carbon-intensive tar sands – one of the world’s single biggest sources of greenhouse gas pollution – could be used in the petrol tanks of European motorists from 2020 after the European Commission proposed to scrap curbs on imports of highly emissions-intensive fuels.
The Oil Pipeline from the Canadian Tar Sands to the Gulf Coast Is Complete
The Oil Pipeline from the Canadian Tar Sands to the Gulf Coast Is Complete
Philip Bump
Jan 22, 2014
Associated Press
Congratulations to the people of TransCanada, Inc., whose long fight to connect the tar-sands-oil-pumping Keystone pipeline to the Gulf Coast of America finally reached fruition on Wednesday. Even without Keystone XL being approved.
