SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
BP's Project in Alberta: A License to Wreak Environmental Havoc
Dec 10, 2007
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
(c) 2007 The Independent
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
© 2023 The Independent
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
(c) 2007 The Independent
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
(c) 2007 The Independent
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.