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
Goldman Sachs: Killing the Keystone XL Pipeline Kills Canadian Oil Sands
Goldman Sachs: Killing the Keystone XL Pipeline Kills Canadian Oil Sands
By Mat McDermott
Motherboard
Contrary to what the U.S. State Department says, stopping the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline would have a large impact on the financial viability of future expansion of tar sands projects, as shipping all that bitumen--oil's heavy, vicous tar form--out via rail would be just too expensive and logistically challenging. For the Canadian tar-sand oil boom to continue, they're going to need to open that vein.
Maine town opposes tar sands oil in pipeline
Maine town opposes tar sands oil in pipeline
Jun 12, 2013
HARRISON, Maine (AP) - Residents in a Maine town have passed a resolution opposing the pumping of Canadian tar sands oil through a pipeline for shipment overseas.
Residents in Harrison voted 156-59 for the resolution Tuesday, one of at least six towns to do so.
The pipeline is used to carry foreign crude oil from Maine to Montreal. Five miles stretch through Harrison.
South Portlanders petition to put tar-sands project on the ballot
South Portlanders petition to put tar-sands project on the ballot
Pre-emptive Petitioning
The Portland Phoenix
By DEIRDRE FULTON | June 13, 2013
In the latest pre-emptive salvo against a potential project that has garnered significant advance attention, a group of South Portlanders has launched a citizens' initiative to change the city's zoning ordinance in order to prevent the Portland Pipe Line Corporation from processing tar-sands oil through its Casco Bay facility.
San Francisco State University votes to divest investment in coal, tar sands
San Francisco State University votes to divest investment in coal, tar sands
Associated Press // SJ Mercury News
06/12/2013
SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco State University will stop investing its endowment in coal and tar sands companies, joining a growing list of universities that are avoiding investments in fossil fuels, the school said Tuesday.
The university's foundation, which oversees a $51.2 million endowment, also voted in May to look into removing all future investments in fossil fuels companies.
Canada's tar sands companies fail to clean up toxic waste, report finds
Canada's tar sands companies fail to clean up toxic waste, report finds
Three arrested in environmental protests as Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper visits London
Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 13 June 2013
Protesters gathered as Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper addressed Parliament on Thursday. Photograph: Peter Marshall/Demotix/Corbis
None of the companies operating in Canada's tar sands have met a commitment to clean up the vast and expanding sprawl of toxic waste ponds, an official report has found.
B.C. officially opposes Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline
B.C. officially opposes Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline
'Our questions were not satisfactorily answered,' environment minister says
CBC News
May 31, 2013
The B.C. government has officially expressed its opposition to a proposal for the Northern Gateway pipeline project, saying it fails to address the province's environmental concerns.
The province made the announcement in its final written submission to the Northern Gateway Pipeline Joint Review Panel.
Tar Sands pipeline to take all-new route from Surrey to Burnaby
Oil pipeline to take all-new route from Surrey to Burnaby
By Jeff Nagel - Burnaby NewsLeader
May 27, 2013
Kinder Morgan Canada plans to stake out an almost all-new corridor for its second oil pipeline from Port Kells in Surrey to Burnaby to avoid digging through private property in densely populated neighbourhoods.
Greg Toth, senior project director of the Trans Mountain pipeline twinning, said following the existing right-of-way – as the company intends on most of the rest of the route through the Fraser Valley and the Interior – would be too disruptive to existing land owners.
Northwest Territories Looking to Bid for Pipelines
Northwest Territories Looking to Bid for Pipelines
Lynsey Kitching
May 27, 2013
Tumbler Ridge News
The enormous opposition to the potential pipelines (Enbridge and Trans-Canada) in BC has spurred the Northwest Territories (NWT) to speak up and offer a solution to Alberta’s dilemma of getting their resources to market.
David Ramsay, Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment for the NWT says, “If those opportunities don’t come for Alberta to the west coast, through a province like BC, we want to be seen as an option.”
First 100,000 Keystone comments reveal intensity of fight
First 100,000 Keystone comments reveal intensity of fight over oil sands pipeline
By Ben Geman - 05/24/13
Inside Climate News/The Hill
The State Department has begun making available over 1.2 million public comments received on its analysis of the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline, providing a glimpse into the intense political and organizing battle around the project.
The department announced late Thursday night that it had posted, on Regulations.gov, roughly 100,000 of the comments received on its March 1 draft environmental review. More will surface on the site weekly.
Tar Sands sales dropping dramtically
Oil sands deals lose traction
JEFFREY JONES
CALGARY — The Globe and Mail
May. 24 2013
There’s a buyers’ strike in the oil sands.
At least a half dozen energy companies have come up dry in efforts to attract the rich bids they envisaged when they put oil sands assets on the auction block in the past year, showing downward pricing pressure on a sector touted as the cornerstone of Canada’s economic growth.
