Oil Sands Truth: Shut Down the Tar Sands

Gender

Gender impacts are often completely ignored within the hollow social impact assessments often conducted in the modern era. Oil patches and natural gas operations are overwhelmingly operated by young men who naturally go into small towns nearby after weeks in the bush. Alcohol and/or drug fuelled violence and rape often increase in communities dealing with such an influx, as do drug use, alcoholism and sexual exploitation. The effect on the community leads to further social breakdown and often violence against elders—especially after the “rush” of initial construction is over and the spike in money is gone, but the torn up earth is still there, along with fatherless children in many cases. The higher the rate in inequality and alienation during a "boom" cycle, the higher the levels of gender-biased impacts. The plans for the tar sands are the single largest project, and therefore "boom" based "collateral damage" could easily match anything seen before.

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Fort McMurray: Boomtown on a bender

Boomtown on a bender

Jun 28th 2007 | FORT MCMURRAY
From The Economist print edition
The downside of explosive growth in northern Alberta

WITH C$36 billion ($25 billion) invested so far in its oil sands and another C$45 billion expected over the next decade, the Canadian province of Alberta is booming. Workers have flocked in, lured by wages of up to C$120,000 a year. The once sleepy town of Fort McMurray, at the centre of the bonanza, boasts a crowded casino and a busy airport. But big money has brought big problems, including overstretched infrastructure and soaring drug use.

OST Statement on Housing Rally at the Legislature: Edmonton, Alberta.

OST statement on Rally for Housing at Edmonton Legislature

Today, May 17, 2007 there was an emergency rally held in Edmonton in support of those who are increasingly being blown away by Alberta’s “boom”. As housing prices continue to skyrocket while available housing plummets, workers can no longer even find places to live right at the “Ground Zero” of the operations of the Tar sands near Fort McMurray.

Edmontonians have seen unlimited rent increases every year, with no end in sight.

Want your Kids Working out of Fort McMurray?

Teenagers should be working in the land of cocaine, fake pee, escorts for everyone, and live only for today in a small town with smog greater than a big city.

I'm sending my kids right now!

--M

Teens wooed by Fort McMurray employers
Last Updated: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 | 12:05 PM MT
CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2007/05/15/teens-fortmcmurray.html

Teenagers looking for summer work in Fort McMurray, Alta., are being wooed with fat wages, big bonuses and even housing allowances.

Too Many Workers, No Housing, New Campgrounds Banned: Welcome to Fort McMurray

No new campgrounds in McMurray, council rules

By LARISSA LIEPINS
Today staff
http://www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/Local%20News/300068.html
Thursday April 12, 2007
Any future campgrounds in Wood Buffalo must be located outside the urban area, and they must “allow for year-round operation.”
Regional council made the decision Tuesday following a heated debate over whether the move will attract even more transient workers to the boomtown.

Klein concedes: No Environmental Plan, No Health Care Plan

Former Premier Ralph Klein warns of health backlash

By RENATO GANDIA
Today staff
Thursday April 05, 2007
http://www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/Local%20News/298912.html

VANCOUVER -- Former Alberta Premier Ralph Klein is quick to admit he didn’t have a plan to fix the blistering effects of the oilsands boom on the strained infrastructure of Fort McMurray and other parts of Alberta.
But he’s not as forthcoming about the reason.

Coping with social breakdown in Fort McMurray

The social impacts of massive, out of control development in Fort McMurray is costing dearly on the issues of health, particularly for new parents and children, with both inadequate housing and a society with few community driven aspects but a severe amount of alcohol and drug abuse, combined with attendant violence. Even the desperate tone of the situation described in this glossy government pamphlet from Food for Two shows the dire situation for services and basic life conditions. It is set to escalate in a manner absolutely out of control, literally.

from

Sex, Drugs and Alcohol Stalk the Streets of Fort McMurray

Sex, Drugs and Alcohol Stalk the Streets of Fort McMurray
Calgary Herald October 22, 2005
Deborah Tetley; With files by Paul Haavardsrud

It's just after 7 p.m. on payday Thursday and downtown Fort McMurray is a gong show.

Inside the storied Diggers bar, dozens of oilsands workers are poised like bingo dobbers over beers, waiting for their name to be bellowed over the PA system so they can cash their paycheques.

At a going rate of $2 on every hundred, it's the best deal in town, outside of $3.50 highballs.