oil sands

Neither Canada Nor the World Can Afford Growth of Dirty Oil

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 09:58:46 -0500

by Matt Price

Today in Copenhagen, the Harper government will walk into the UN climate summit not with the intention of transitioning Canada into a clean energy economy, but instead with the agenda of prolonging the oil industry frenzy in the tar sands in northern Alberta.

Alberta's Tar Sands Make Canada a Climate Criminal

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:56:28 -0500

by George Monbiot

When you think of Canada, which qualities come to mind? The world's peacekeeper, the friendly nation, a liberal counterweight to the harsher pieties of its southern neighbour, decent, civilised, fair, well-governed? Think again. This country's government is now behaving with all the sophistication of a chimpanzee's tea party.

Oil Sands Threaten Our Survival, Al Gore Warns

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:41:42 -0500

by Oakland Ross

Extracting oil from Alberta's tar sands jeopardizes the survival of our species, says Al Gore.

"Gas from the tar sands gives a Prius the same carbon footprint as a Hummer," the former U.S. vice-president told the Star in an interview prior to a Toronto speaking engagement scheduled for Tuesday evening.

"I know that doesn't make me popular in Alberta," said the jet-hopping environmental activist, best known for the movie and book An Inconvenient Truth.

Canada's Tar Sands Are the Future of Oil Production: Oil Exec.

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:40:56 -0500

by Michel Viatteau

MONTREAL - The era of oil gushing from ground wells is over and can only be replaced by costly and complex refining of deposits such as Canada's oil sands to satisfy rising global energy needs, said a senior oil executive.

Pressed about the high cost of oil sands extraction and attacks by environmentalists worried about its contribution to global warming, Jean-Michel Gires, president of French-based Total's Canadian subsidiary, told AFP he is optimistic specifically about the future of Canada's oil sands development.

It’s a Dirty Business — The New Gold Rush That Is Blackening Canada’s Name

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:55:32 -0500

by Ben Webster

A giant mechanical digger gouges out a chunk of topsoil, grass and tree stumps, extending a neat furrow that stretches into the distance. Dozens of similar furrows run parallel with the regularity of a ploughed field.

Yet no crop could grow in the pitch-black surface exposed by the machine working 1,000ft below our helicopter. This is the edge of a fast-expanding open-cast mine in the Canadian tar sands, one of the world's most polluting sources of oil.

Greenpeace Takes Anti-Oilsands Message to Oil Companies' Homes

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 12:00:41 -0400

by Richard Warnica

EDMONTON - Last week 30 activists scaled a security fence at France's largest oil refinery, near La Havre. Inside, they clambered up towers and unfurled banners. Their message, roughly translated, was this: Get out of the oilsands; Get out of Alberta.

The refinery's owner, Total S.A., has been considering a multibillion-dollar expansion of their oilsands holdings. The CEO of the company's Canadian division said this week a decision would come within months.

Alberta Vows to Crackdown on Greenpeace Protesters

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:17:09 -0400

by Richard Warnica And Darcy Henton

A fuming Premier Ed Stelmach has vowed to punish Greenpeace activists to the full extent of the law after protesters invaded their third Alberta oilsands site in as many weeks on Saturday.

The group, an international team of activists, scaled three smoke stacks and one crane at the Shell Scotford upgrader near Fort Saskatchewan, just northeast of Edmonton -- part of a continuing bid

by the group to grab headlines ahead of global climate talks in Copenhagen in December.

Greenhouse Emissions From Oil Sands Underestimated: Report

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 09:02:01 -0400

by Petti Fong

VANCOUVER - Alberta's oil sands are emitting more greenhouse gas emissions than previously known by not calculating the impact of using forest and peatlands for production, according to a new report commissioned partly by Greenpeace.

The research conducted by Global Forest Watch found that industry and the government are underestimating how much greenhouse gas emissions are coming from oil sand production by nearly a quarter. Official estimates don't account for carbon released as forest cover is cut and peatlands disturbed, the report says.

Shell Halts Mining as Activists Protest Oil Sands

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:32:54 -0400

CALGARY, Alberta - Royal Dutch Shell Plc has suspended production at its Canadian oil sands mine after environmental activists blockaded a massive dump truck and mining shovel to protest the impact of oil sands development, the company said on Tuesday.

Greenpeace said 25 of its activists locked down the oil sands mining equipment at the Albian Sands Muskeg River mine in northern Alberta on Tuesday morning, a day before Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington.

Canada's Becoming a 'Global Carbon Bully': Greenpeace

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 08:56:06 -0400

by Monique Beaudin

MONTREAL - A new report from Greenpeace says oil production in Alberta's tar sands has made Canada into a "global carbon bully."

Little has been done to tackle climate change in Canada, and the federal government has actively tried to block international agreements and laws targeting climate change, says the report, called Dirty Oil: How The Tar Sands Are Fuelling the Global Climate Crisis.