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Enbridge Announces New Athabasca Oilsands Pipeline Expansion
Enbridge Inc. will be investing $185 million to expand its Athabasca oilsands pipeline in time to accommodate new volumes from Cenovus Energy's Christina Lake project, the pipeline giant said.
Protesters march through a street demonstrating against the building of an oil pipeline in the north of the province in Vancouver, British Columbia August 31, 2010.
(REUTERS/Andy Clark) The announcement Thursday was the second in less than a week about projects in the northeast corner of Alberta.
The newest expansion will boost capacity of the Athabasca pipeline to 430,000 barrels per day when it comes online by the fall of 2013, Enbridge said.
"All these projects fit well with Enbridge's investment profile and further strengthen our capacity within the region, enhancing our strategic advantage," said Steve Wuori, vice-president of liquids pipelines.
Late last month the company announced the $370-million Wood Buffalo line linking Suncor Energy oilsands volumes to the pipeline's Waupisoo system to Edmonton.
Wood Buffalo would run parallel to the 540-kilometre Athabasca line, Enbridge's oilsands artery to its mainline hub in Hardistry, Alberta.
Enbridge has invested approximately $1.8 billion in the oilsands region in the past year, securing its position as a major transporter and for the company's strategy to grow 10 per cent per year.
"It's good news," said analyst Steven Paget, with FirstEnergy Capital Corp. "They are extending their regional oilsands yet again, and they are doing it because they have the common carrier, non-dedicated pipelines that can service the region."
Thursday's announcement comes as the Calgary-based company battles fallout from an oil spill into the Kalamazoo River six weeks ago, including allegations it has been pressuring affected residents to sign off on claims.
Several U.S. congressmen have launched an investigation around claims Enbridge offered incentives such as air purifiers in exchange for not suing the company. Questions were also raised about Enbridge requesting medical records.
Chief executive Pat Daniel attributed the allegations to misunderstandings, and said he would be following up on them.
Line 6B, which supplies crude oil to refiners in Ontario and the U.S. Midwest, ruptured under the Talmadge Creek near Marshall, Michigan July 26, spilling approximately 19,500 barrels of oil into the tributary.
Dozens of homes along the riverbank were voluntarily evacuated and more than 100 visits made to hospital and doctors' offices because of environmental issues after the spill.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has given Enbridge until September 27 to complete the clean up operations around the river, and expects a full report by November 27.
Enbridge said it expects to pay about $6.6 million after insurance for its portion of the clean up effort. The company holds a 27 per cent interest in Enbridge Energy Partners, operator of the downed line.
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Show AllThe following is from the site "Oil Sands Truth":
"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 all three 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:
http://oilsandstruth.org/tar-sands-101 "
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Maybe nothing new, but just a reminder to look closely at the implications of the addiction to oil.
They can do whatever they want to do, because, by now--let's face it--"they own us".
In the heyday of consumerism, we gave them the money they needed to buy us--or at least to buy means they needed to control us and "how we think".
Decades of automobile ads assuring us that we were "nobody" unless our (autos) were bigger, faster, safer and more powerful than those of our neighbors.
Decades of political campaigns assuring us that public transportation systems were unnecessary, and what we needed to do to have a "good economy" was to "build more roads", while simultaneously to avoid taxing fuel enough to pay for them--the percent of government take on that having consistently gone down as fuel prices have gone up.
No mention, however, of eliminating the deductions business take on fuel expenses to avoid paying taxes, while consumers get no such tax relief on interest paid to credit card companies, which big-oil also owns, directly or indirectly.
Just doesn't seem fair, does it?
Ultimately, what was said to Brutus still applies..."the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings!"
I agee, AVE_fan. I think change may be even harder in Canada for certain reasons. The economy may be bad, people may face uncertainty or actual hardship, but almost everyone is locked into the system in one way or the other. And in the numbers game of elections, you don't even need a real big majority - just enough voters who can be bribed (at least with promises) or scared, so as to come out first (-past-the-post). And when people have a chance to vote on some form of proportional representation, not enough of them show up if it's hockey season. It's a shame.
And be aware OilyBomber approved the first USA import license for this FrankenFuel.
Possibly his most harmful action along with esculating Afghanistan, among all his other harmful actions.
The pipeline described above is just moving bitumen to markets that allready exist, it is not a new route.
The pipeline that is more controversial is the Northern Gateway pipeline, which would move tar sands bitumen to the West Coast in British Columbia. It runs through boreal forest and wild areas in Alberta and BC, and at the terminal it means oil tankers will be carrying this thick crude [bitumen] in those precious and fragile waters on BC's coast.
Pipeline spills and tanker spills are a certainty.
The Northern Gateway line will only serve to expand the market for Tar Sands oil to China, etc., which is a bit silly because the Americans are allready buying as much tar sands oil as can be produced! Perhaps the oil companies are worried about a tar sands oil boycott by Americans??
Noah_Scape, when you mentioned the Northern Gateway pipeline, I thought, that couldn't be accurate because exporting bitumen without refining it doesn't make sense. So I did a quick search, and it turns out you're right:
"Four strikes against Enbridge's Northern Gateway Pipeline"
http://www.oilsandswatch.org/blog/59
Maybe China does need the heavier fractions along with whatever little oil it can get out of this. It's unbelievable, and one more proof that the corporations usually get their way and a majority of the people probably care more about hockey and the "Olympic Spirit" and let all these projects quietly slip through.
EVERYONE! Buy electric golf carts, especially if you live in the city. Why do we need these powerful cars to drive to the grocery store? Imagine what the air could be like in the cities if everyone used these vehicles for their little close errands.
MOST TOXIC ENERGY SOURCE:
The recent disclosures of the enormous destruction of habitat from the continuous oil spills into the Niger delta, which is even worse than the current Gulf of Mexico tragedy, is only another event that underscores the crucial need to reduce our carbon footprint.
At a time when carbon pollution has been recognized by the international scientific community as a paramount danger to our planet’’s future, the current promotion of strip mining the oil shales in Alberta and elsewhere defies logic-- especially as alternative energy is becoming more viable.
The energy and water required to extract these low grade oils from the formations, and the environmental destruction resulting from the millions of tons of contaminated waste and denuded landscapes which can never be properly restored, render oil sands/shales the worlds most environmental damaging and wasteful source of energy .
Not until the energy cartels, who have blocked every vital reform measures, are detoothed, we be able develop renewable non toxic energy sources--and reverse the self perpetuating climate change that we have generated.
they never like to mention the millions of cubic feet of natural gas that is needed in the process. The lakes and rivers that are being drained for a supply of water also needed in the process. Not to mention man made lakes of the run off that is killing thousands of ducks and birds who think they are landing on water but are not.
Using one form or power , the natural gas to produce oil is nuts.
Look for DOC ZONE on CBC ( Canada ) about the amount used is the real question.