Oil Sands Truth: Shut Down the Tar Sands

Alberta (& Saskatchewan) Tar Sands

Alberta (& Saskatchewan) Tar Sands

Alberta Tar Sands is a category limited to the location and production of tar sand bitumen, an area the size of the state of Florida in northern Alberta province. The giant processing plants near Fort McMurray where the land itself is strip mined as well as the primarily "in situ" in-ground steam separation/production and extraction plants in the Peace and Cold Lake Regions, all in Alberta, are the "Ground Zero" of the single largest industrial gigaproject ever proposed in human history.

The process of removing the tar from the sand involves incredible amounts of energy from clean-burning natural gas (with nuclear proposed along side), tremendous capital costs during build up, incredibly high petroleum prices to protect investments, and the largest single industrial contribution to climate change in North America. Production also involves the waste of fresh water from nearby lakes, rivers and aquifers that have already created toxic tailing ponds visible from outer space. None of the land strip mined has yet to be certified as reclaimed. It takes 4 tonnes of soil to produce one barrel of oil. The tar sands are producing over 1.2 million barrels of oil a day on average. The oil companies, Canada and the United States governments are proposing to escalate production to 5 million barrels, almost all destined for American markets-- and lower environmental standards while doing so. They also would need to violate the national and human rights of many indigenous nations who are rightly concerned about many dire social, environmental and economic repercussions on their communities.

To get the needed energy supplies, diluent for the bitumen and diverted freshwater to produce and then to transport the flowing heavy bitumen for refining would require massive new infrastructure and pipeline building from three different time zones in the Arctic, across British Columbia and through Alberta in a criss-cross pattern, into pipelines to such destinations as California, China, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Ontario, Illinois, Wisconsin and Texas. This entire project is now estimated at over $170 billion dollars. And after the whole process described so far, only then will all this dirty petroleum get burned and expel greenhouse gasses into the air causing further climate change.

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Alberta Tar Sands is a category limited to the location and production of tar sand bitumen, an area the size of the state of Florida in northern Alberta province. The giant processing plants near Fort McMurray where the land itself is strip mined as well as the primarily "in situ" in-ground steam separation/production and extraction plants in the Peace and Cold Lake Regions, all in Alberta, are the "Ground Zero" of the single largest industrial gigaproject ever proposed in human history. The process of removing the tar from the sand involves incredible amounts of energy from clean-burning natural gas (with nuclear proposed along side), tremendous capital costs during build up, incredibly high petroleum prices to protect investments, and the largest single industrial contribution to climate change in North America. Production also involves the waste of fresh water from nearby lakes, rivers and aquifers that have already created toxic tailing ponds visible from outer space. None of the land strip mined has yet to be certified as reclaimed. It takes 4 tonnes of soil to produce one barrel of oil. The tar sands are producing over 1.2 million barrels of oil a day on average. The oil companies, Canada and the United States governments are proposing to escalate production to 5 million barrels, almost all destined for American markets-- and lower environmental standards while doing so. They also would need to violate the national and human rights of many indigenous nations who are rightly concerned about many dire social, environmental and economic repercussions on their communities. To get the needed energy supplies, diluent for the bitumen and diverted freshwater to produce and then to transport the flowing heavy bitumen for refining would require massive new infrastructure and pipeline building from three different time zones in the Arctic, across British Columbia and through Alberta in a criss-cross pattern, into pipelines to such destinations as California, China, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Ontario, Illinois, Wisconsin and Texas. This entire project is now estimated at over $170 billion dollars. And after the whole process described so far, only then will all this dirty petroleum get burned and expel greenhouse gasses into the air causing further climate change.

Corroding Our Democracy

October 14, 2013
Tzeporah Berman Silences Environmentalists, Targets Corporate Deal in Tar Sands Push
Corroding Our Democracy
by MACDONALD STAINSBY
Counterpunch.org

On September 23, 2013 Democracy Now and Amy Goodman conducted an interview with Tzeporah Berman on the issue of Canada’s government and their extreme over-reach in attacks on science and all manner of environmentalists. Focusing intently on the tar sands, the interview did well to highlight the more than dubious moves of the current Conservative government to promote tar sands in particular at all costs.

Fracking Indigenous Country

October 22, 2013

Big Green, Sun Media and Elsipogtog
Fracking Indigenous Country
by MACDONALD STAINSBY

If anyone doubted that it’s a good thing that Sun News in Canada has been both going broke and also denied the ability to force their way onto Canada’s basic cable system (vastly expanding their audience and getting themselves included in most homes with television subscriptions by default), the racist rantings of Ezra Levant in response to the recent RCMP attack on the Mi’kmaq community of Elsipogtog ought to clear it up.

Are green groups ready for tarsands deal?

Are green groups ready for tarsands deal?
by Dawn Paley on Nov 20, 2013
The Georgia Straight

Gone are the days when the tarsands were an obscure experiment in making oil from tar. Today, the bitumen deposits in central and northern Alberta have become a political hot potato, an issue forced onto the world stage by coordinated protests and direct actions.
Photos

But a look at the history of the environmental groups that have signed on to the tarsands protests raises the question of whether or not an agreement between green groups and tarsands operators is on the horizon.

Tar sands industry fights back

Oil sands industry fights back

Criticism piles up

By Yadullah Hussain, Financial Post November 15, 2013

As withering criticism of the oil sands continues unabated, the industry is fighting back, armed with its own set of facts and highlighting the strides made in tackling the environmental issues that have sullied its reputation.

Enbridge to build $1.3 billion tar sands pipeline extension

Enbridge to build $1.3 billion oil sands pipeline extension

By Jordan Howell
Jul 28, 2013

Canadian pipeline company Enbridge announced plans to build a US $1.3 billion southern extension to its Northern Alberta Woodland oil pipeline to connect the company’s Cheecham Terminal to its Edmonton Terminal and nearby refineries.
The extension will serve Imperial Oil's Kearl oil sands project located in the Athabasca Oil Sands region about 70 kilometers north of Fort McMurray and is planned to be in service by the third quarter of 2015.

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.

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.

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.

Marathon Ends Talks With Potential Tar Sands Buyer

Marathon Ends Talks With Potential Oil Sands Buyer
By Rebecca Penty - May 24, 2013
Bloomberg

Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) ended talks to sell part of its stake in the Athabasca Oil Sands Project as Canadian oil sands deals languish in the face of low heavy crude prices and competing U.S. shale investments.

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