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TechnoratiBP's Project in Alberta: A License to Wreak Environmental Havoc
This week BP announced it is buying a 50 per cent stake in Husky Energy's tar sands development project in Alberta, Canada, to produce more than 200,000 barrels by 2020. The move in effect signals the company is ready to participate in one of the most environmentally destructive projects on the planet.
Canada's tar sands are second only in size to the oil reserves of Saudi Arabia, with more than 149,000 sq km - an area larger than all of England (130,410 sq km). Tar sands are a mixture of sand, clay and bitumen, a heavy tar-like substance that can be converted into oil. Instead of simply drilling a well, the tar sands must be strip-mined in giant open pits or mined underground with in situ technologies that inject super-heated water into the ground.
The process is very water and energy intensive. A barrel of tar sands oil requires up to five times more energy to produce than a conventional barrel and results in five times the amount of greenhouse gas emissions. The US-based World Resources Institute estimates the tar sands will soon match the entire carbon dioxide emissions of the Czech Republic. By 2020 the tar sands are expected to release more than 141 million tons of greenhouse gases annually, or more than the emissions currently produced by all the road transport in the UK - 125.3 million tons in 2002).
The development of the tar sands is the largest reason that the Canadian Prime Minster Stephen Harper's government is refusing to meet its Kyoto commitment to reduce Canada's greenhouse gas emissions by 6 per cent from 1990 levels. More than two-thirds of Canada's "Kyoto gap" of 270 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2005 is attributable to the impact of the tar sands. It's little wonder that Canada is now blocking progress on climate change at the UN negotiations in Bali.
It takes three to five barrels of fresh water to produce a single barrel of oil from the tar sands. Considering the tar sands are currently producing more than one million barrels of oil per day, the tar sands are literally draining rivers dry. Most of this water ends up in huge toxic holding ponds that are already visible from space.
Indigenous communities in Fort Chipewyan have been experiencing unprecedented rates of a rare form of cancer. A recent water study showed that the water in Fort Chipewyan contained high levels of arsenic, and fish are contaminated with elevated levels of mercury and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
BP's decision to enter this environmental nightmare strips away any credibility it may have had in being a good corporate citizen. Instead of trying to move "beyond petroleum" it has invested in the dirtiest oil project on the planet.
Mike Hudema is a tar sands campaigner for Greenpeace Canada
© 2007 The Independent
13 Comments so far
Show AllCrude Awakening (part I) - about the Alberta Oil Sands:
http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/video/environmentscience/crude_awakening.html
part II:
http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/video/environmentscience/alberta_oil_sands_part_2.html
Its the American consumer that is driving this out of control tarsands boom.
The only way to fix the problem is to fix the driving force behind it.
All nations, but especially America, needs to stop using so much fossil fuel.
I think the tarsands are so huge, that it represents a perfect place to try and grapple with the tough choices between jobs, economics and environmental stewardship.
This is not like someone opening up a new open pit coal mine in Virgina. If the tarsands are to be developed, its effect is global. Its so huge and the energy balance of the entire process is highly questionable.
There is going to be a special on the Environmental disaster looming in Alberta on The National tonight.
norwegianwood, how much of the envirnmental disaster is trickling into Montana? How is your rainfall?
Malfoyd, was looking up the Bloc on the latest post-Kyoto meeting in Bali and came across this (which is how I came to search for it):
Cette attitude est conforme aux déclarations passées du premier ministre Harper, qui a qualifié le Protocole de Kyoto de « complot socialiste », alors chef de l'opposition officielle, M. Harper avait fait de l'échec de Kyoto son principal objectif.
http://www.blocquebecois.org/fr/manchette_detail.asp?id=9925890
(or the gloss version you get if you put the above URL in a search)
This attitude is in conformity with the last declarations of the Harper Prime Minister, who qualified the Protocol of Kyoto of "socialist plot", then chief of the official opposition, Mr. Harper had made of the failure of Kyoto its main goal.
Politicians keep records of everything every other politician has ever said. They make it their business to find words that will come back to haunt.
norwegianwood, that is new information, but I must be getting jaded because I am not shocked!
RE: "This incident shows a heavy bias toward private industry within the government of Alberta, and shows a complete disregard for citizens' rights and democracy," he says.
Alberta has always had a very pro-business attitude, especially under Ralph Klein, and most of the companies involved in the oil sands are American (or so we have been told). Ed Stelmach may not be as extreme as Ralph, but then no one is.
RE: If it weren't for the spies hired by the Canadian government who illegally monitored meetings and phone conversations between Montanans and Albertans opposed to proposed power transmission lines north of here, you might be tempted to put this story down.
By "Canadian government" does she just mean Stephen Harper or was Paul Martin involved in this as well?
RE: "We knew they were infiltrating our group from the beginning because we knew everyone in our group…in the middle of a bunch of grandmothers sat some 300-pound ex-RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) looking guy eating all the cookies!" Anglin says.
Seems that the RCMP should do a bit more research before infiltrating groups - from the sounds of the article they knew he was a spy but it took a while to figure out just who he was spying for. Was he ex-RCMP or did he just look like he was?
I ask this because, I don't know if you have been following the Karlheinz Schreiber testimony, but there seems to be a cosy relationship between the RCMP and those in the PM's office. Today Pat Martin asked Schreiber about a meeting where only Schreiber, his lawyers and the RCMP were present and who presented very detailed information to Hebert (an aid to the PM) as to what went on in that meeting. Seems that neither Schreiber nor his lawyer contacted Hebert. Schreiber is also hinting that our Prime Minister may not even know who is really running the country.
I can't say for sure that the Montana-Alberta issues will come up - but if it involves the federal government there is a good chance it will.
As far as pipelines go - there are interests all over the place and the Governors and Premiers co-operate on a lot of things. Someone should ask Arnold where California is getting all their hydroelectricity from. Strange how many times the names "arnold schwarzenegger" "gary doer" come up in the same search. The difference seems to be that hydroelectricity is greener than what the tar sands is producing.
Example - Gary Doer's name does not appear here, but look at the people who get up to speak after Arnold:
http://gov.ca.gov/index.php?/press-release/4111/
More on this from the Montana side:
http://www.missoulanews.com/index.cfm?do=article.details&id=8B8B8ABA-98F6-C546-DF88110E8019B85D
Arvy, I think you've read Joel Bakan's 'The Corporation', or maybe saw the movie. Yes, I get what you are saying, and I agree. It's a mess, and it's what is causing almost all the major problems - social, environmental, - everything. Corporations are powerful psycopaths running amuck.
vaudree, those are excellent Harper quotes. I found 93 Google hits for the first one, and some for the second. I like the first one best. Isn't it great that these guys are so fond of shooting themselves in the foot?
Now, of course, Harper is the one speaking out of both sides of his mouth.
This is an important issue, just like Iran is an important issue. I don't get it. Harper is like Bush - they both are dead wrong about the positions they take, demonstrably wrong, and yet they carry on, and it takes years for it to sink in across the electorate.
It's only CITGO for me.
Dafoe, I know you are being sarcastic, but that is very close to how they think over there.
Arvy and Malfoyd, I wonder what the rainfall is like in Alberta. Seems that some of the farmers in Alberta are upset with all the water the Oil industry is using up.
Harper said a few things while still leader of the Canadian Alliance (before the Alliance "merged" with the PC's to form the New Conservative Party):
"Kyoto is essentially a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations." - Stephen Harper
"The "battle of Kyoto" shows why the Canadian Alliance is so important to you and to Canada. All the other federal parties are supporting Kyoto (Liberals, NDP, BQ) or speaking out of both sides of their mouth (Tories). Only the Canadian Alliance is strong and fearless enough to block dangerous and destructive schemes like the Charlottetown Accord and the Kyoto Accord." - Stephen Harper
Note that the stronghold of the Canadian Alliance was Alberta. The Tar Sands is the cornerstone of the Alberta economy.
Yesterday in The House:
Mr. Dennis Bevington (Western Arctic, NDP): Mr. Speaker, a recent report done by the Alberta community of Fort Chipewyan, downstream from the oil sands, found elevated cancer causing chemicals in the water of the Athabasca River. Other reports have shown a clear link between the oil sands development and water pollution.
The federal government is responsible for trans-boundary water pollution. Rather than encouraging even more oil sands development, when will it work to protect the people of northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories?
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=39&Ses=2&DocId=319047...
Mike has his wires crossed, the Tar Sands are not Canada's they belong to Alberta as the premiers of that province have told Canada repeatedly. There are no environmental problems in Alberta a fact known to every conservative voting albertan thus BP is only doing the normal business thing in the province. Greenpeace obviously haven't been listening to the font of all albertan wisdom, Klein and his successor in the premiers seat. Poor Mike he really doesn't understand what Alberta is and stands for, the bastion of conservatism in the midst of a swamp of liberial/socialist and dare one mention it "commies" up there in Kanader. Oh the sacrifices these guys make on our consuming behalf.
I didn't say that that it was wrong to doubt their credibility as a self-proclaimed 'green company', although I would tend to classify any such previous acceptance as public gullibility.
I was commenting on what the article actually refers to as the "credibility it may have had in being a good corporate citizen." Ar best, this is a highly questionable notion that seems to arise from their court-awarded 'personhood' status and its attendant rights. It must not be overlooked that any corresponding 'citizenship' obligations, on the other hand, are very narrowly circumscribed.
Arvy, you are correct in describing every corporation's legal obligation. Maximizing profits for their shareholders is their only mandate.
But, BP does try to represent itself as a green company. So, it's not wrong that this credibility is being stripped away by their actions. It is. And it's a good thing that it is. The more people understand that corporations are never their 'friends' in the normal understanding of being a good citizen, the closer we will get to a time when we will act effectively against them.
That time will come. Corporations are collectively responsible for two things: First they are responsible for causing the lions share of the damage done to the planet and the environment, and secondly they are responsible for obstructing all effort to restrict or repair that damage. Their time will come, and the corporate model will be abandoned.
BP's decision to enter this environmental nightmare strips away any credibility it may have had in being a good corporate citizen.
Wrong! It's the misunderstanding of corporate citizenship itself that is at fault. The legally mandated singular fiduciary obligation of corporations is to maximize profits. That is their full and complete 'citizenship' responsibility in return for their legal 'personhood' and all of the accompanying rights. All else is mere window dressing.