Foreign investment a threat to oilsands: Green Party leader - Fort McMurray Today - Alberta, CA Foreign influence in Canada's oilsands, particularly from China, might be the most important issue facing Canada's sovereignty and security that the federal government isn't talking about, says Green Party leader Elizabeth May. In an interview with the Today, May said Canadians should be worried that the country's energy sector has gladly accepted billions of dollars in investments from Chinese state-owned companies, and ask whether or not their presence in Alberta's oilsands affects Canada's foreign policy. Canada has spent the last decade wooing China with Alberta's vast oil reserves in an attempt to turn the oil-thirsty Asian superpower with deep pockets into a frequent customer. However, May argues security advisors to the Canadian government have shown concern about China's growing economic prowess in Canada, but the issue has been ignored by the Tory government. "It's naive to think there's no difference between Sinopec or PetroChina and Imperial Oil or Exxon," says May.
Ban Hydraulic Fracturing for natural gas in Ireland Petition Target: Irish Government Petition Background (Preamble): We are calling on the Irish Government to immediately ban the process known as Hydraulic Fracturing (fracking) in Ireland. Hydraulic fracturing is the method used for the extraction of natural gas (shale gas) from the ground. This horizontal drilling process involves the pumping of millions of gallons of water, mixed with hundreds of highly toxic chemicals, thousands of feet deep into the ground. Already in the U.S.A and Australia, pollution caused by this process to land, to air, to surface water and to groundwater has resulted in a terrible health toll and catastrophic environmental damage. A litany of serious ‘fracking’ related health problems for people in communities in areas where this technology has been used have also come to light. The U.S. If hydraulic fracturing is allowed the aftermath may be an irreversible disaster for us and our environment. 1. There are also a number of Facebook pages and groups on fracking in Ireland.
The age of extreme oil: ‘This used to be a forest?' One grey Thursday at the end of April, a plane touched down in Fort McMurray, Alta., carrying four Achuar Indians from the Peruvian Amazon. They had flown 8,000 kilometres from the rain forest to beseech Talisman Energy Inc., the Calgary-based oil and gas conglomerate, to stop drilling in their territory. Talisman's annual general meeting was coming up, and the Achuar were invited to state their case to chief executive officer John Manzoni in front of the company's shareholders. But first, they wanted to see a Canadian oil patch for themselves, and meet the aboriginal people who lived there. Their host in Fort McMurray was Gitzikomin Deranger, Gitz to his friends – a 6-foot-4 Dene-Blackfoot activist who lives in a comfortably cluttered duplex with his parents and a revolving assortment of relatives. “Did you kill the bird to get it?” “No,” Mr. “Condor feathers are sacred for us too, but we never pick them off the ground,” Mr.
Redford calls Alberta oil spill an ‘exception’ as cleanup continues People downstream of an oil pipeline breach in west central Alberta are worried but hopeful the spill won’t seriously damage the Red Deer River they depend on for water and recreation. Andrew Van Oosten and his friends were hoping to go fishing Saturday but were told by Alberta Environment officials to stay away from the water. “I was going to go fishing but they said, ‘No, you’re not allowed,’” he said as huddled with his friends underneath a tarp at his campsite near the Gleniffer reservoir. “You are not allowed to go near the water because it (oil) is washing up on shore. Out on the lake that provides the water supply for the City of Red Deer and other communities downstream from Thursday’s spill, crews were busy spreading booms across the surface to skim away any sour crude. Plains Midstream Canada estimates as much as 475,000 litres of oil spilled and then leaked into the river. “We deeply regret any impact this incident may have on local residents,” the news release stated. Mr. Ms.
Oil sands Tar sandstone from California, USA. Oil sands, tar sands or, more technically, bituminous sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. Oil sands reserves have only recently[when?] been considered to be part of the world's oil reserves, as higher oil prices and new technology enable profitable extraction and processing. Oil produced from bitumen sands is often referred to as unconventional oil or crude bitumen, to distinguish it from liquid hydrocarbons produced from traditional oil wells. The crude bitumen contained in the Canadian oil sands is described by the National Energy Board of Canada as A highly viscous mixture of hydrocarbons heavier than pentanes which, in its natural state, is not usually recoverable at a commercial rate through a well because it is too thick to flow.[5] Making liquid fuels from oil sands requires energy for steam injection and refining. History[edit] The name tar sands was applied to bituminous sands in the late 19th and early 20th century.
As deadline nears, friends and foes of Keystone XL pipeline step up campaigns The pipeline, which requires a federal permit from the State Department because it crosses an international border, has been under review for more than three years. In early November, the administration delayed making a national interest determination on the pipeline on the grounds that it needed to avoid crossing sensitive terrain in Nebraska’s Sandhills region. At the time, officials predicted that the process of rerouting the pipeline and the subsequent environmental review would extend the permitting process into early 2013. But language inserted in last month’s payroll tax extension forces President Obama to make a decision by Feb. 21. Administration officials have said that the truncated timeline makes it difficult to complete a review of whether the pipeline is in the national interest, given the fact TransCanada has yet to outline an alternate route. “I think the timing is just unfortunate, because we’re close to an election,” Engler said. In the meantime, House Speaker John A.
Canada News: Tim Hudak: Ontario should develop Ring of Fire like oilsands The mineral rich Ring of Fire is Ontario’s “oilsands” and the province should take a page out of Alberta’s playbook by developing it quickly, says Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak. The Tory leader visited the remote Ring of Fire area, located nearly 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, on Monday with other Tory MPPs to survey the swampy earth said to hold more than a $30 billion haul of chromite — the key material used to make stainless steel. “In many ways, the Ring of Fire is Ontario’s oilsands — an enormous wealth beneath the earth that can break open a new frontier for job creation and investment in our province. Sometimes we look (with) wonder and awe at what Alberta can do; we can do that in Ontario and we can do that with the Ring of Fire,” said Hudak. The same toxic material that Erin Brockovich discovered in the water of a small California town, chromium-6, could pollute northern Ontario due to chromite mining in the Ring of Fire, documents obtained by the Star show.
The Canadian Oil Sands: Energy Security Vs. Climate Change - Michael A. Levi, Council on Foreign Relations. Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies An open letter on the proposed Enbridge pipeline Hello friends, We are under attack. By our own government, flanked by the oil industry. The logic of the Harper government -- and the "ethical oil" lobbyists our prime minister himself is parroting -- is so twisted, their arguments so convoluted, it makes the head spin. Let me try to explain. Like so many other Canadian families, my parents were born elsewhere and moved to Canada at a young age. I grew up watching forests on Vancouver Island be clear-cut, mountains seemingly shaved from top to bottom. And I've been speaking out, ever since I was 14 years old, for the kind of future I want to live in. Harper twisted logic No. 2 is that while foreign funding of environmental organizations is a bad thing, foreign investment in the Enbridge pipeline and in the Alberta tar sands is unequivocally a good thing. And then there's this little problem of the over-4,500 people who have signed up to speak at the federal review process set up to assess the proposed Enbridge pipeline and tankers.
Harper hurts science – again Michael Harris is a writer, journalist, and documentary filmmaker. He was awarded a Doctor of Laws for his “unceasing pursuit of justice for the less fortunate among us.” His eight books include Justice Denied, Unholy Orders, Rare ambition, Lament for an Ocean, and Con Game. His work has sparked four commissions of inquiry, and three of his books have been made into movies. The Harper government knows and cares as much about science as it knows and cares about telling the truth. That’s what the recent decision to close Canada’s world-renowned Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) tells anyone who is paying attention. It also tells us that Environment Minister Peter Kent would have been a great witness at the Scopes Monkey Trial – for the prosecution. I offer these observations after taking a close look at the decision by the federal government to shutter the ELA, yet another deconstruction and downgrading of government science in Canada. Let’s begin at the beginning, or should I say the end?