Tar Sands

28/08/19
Author: 
Will Offley

[Will Offley was sentenced to 14 days in prison]

 

In the last year the Court has seen people from all walks of life, class backgrounds, nationalities and political persuasions appear, charged with the same allegation, criminal contempt of court, for blocking Trans Mountain’s operations. 

What unifies us all is the shared understanding that humanity is teetering on a precipice, and only decisive action to reverse climate change can prevent an unprecedented catastrophe.

20/08/19
Author: 
Elizabeth McSheffrey, with files from Mike De Souza and Carolyn Jarvis
Matthew Linnitt says he's grateful his livelihood no longer depends on oil and gas. He no longer fears reprisal against his family. Photo by Jennifer Osborne

August 20th 2019

The words may not have been explicit, but oilpatch contractor Matthew Linnitt says he read between the lines: lie on official documents about an incident that could have killed him, or someone would be fired.

The tacit threat, he alleges, was handed down by his supervisor at Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL) after a close call with hydrogen sulfide on a northwestern Alberta well site on May 2, 2016.

17/08/19
Author: 
Robert Hackett
A shot of Fort McMurray, Alberta in 2012. Photo by Kris Krüg from Flickr

August 9th 2019

The Trudeau government and the petrobloc (the fossil fuel industries and their political, financial and media allies) would like you to believe that the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline (TMX), intended to triple the flow of diluted bitumen from the Athabasca Sands to the port of Vancouver, is a done deal.

But the latest approval of TMX by the Trudeau government and the industry-friendly National Energy Board does not settle the issue.

09/08/19
Author: 
Valerie Volcovici
Photograph: Mining equipment called a bucketwheel reclaimer is used at oil sands mines in Alberta, Canada.

August 8, 2019 by

A coalition of 32 environmental and indigenous groups on Thursday urged insurers to stop underwriting the Trans Mountain pipeline to pressure Canada to cancel its plan to expand the project which carries crude from Alberta’s oil sands to British Columbia’s Pacific coast.

06/07/19
Author: 
John McMurtry
Tar Sands Protest

July 5, 2019 

Big Lies and Ecocide in Canada

As we know, big lies can run free across borders with few people joining the dots. For example, no media has been reporting that China’s growing dispute with Canada is based on Canada’s enforcement of the Trump administration’s unilateral embargo against Iran. This is what politicians called ‘the rule of law’. In fact, it is assisting the US takedown of China’s superior IT competition – Huawei – for not obeying the illegal US embargo.

01/07/19
Author: 
Deborah Jaremko

 

May 31 2019 - Canadian Natural Resources Limited’s announced acquisition of Devon Energy’s oilsands assets continues the “Canadianization” of the massive resource as international-based companies exit the sector. 

The trend was already well underway well before this week’s announcement, but it’s worth taking a look at how ownership of Alberta’s massive resource will sit following the deal’s close, which is expected in June.

26/06/19
Author: 
J D Hughes

 

The above (low-resolution) image of the oil sands in 2018. Click on the link to view the images for each year from 1984 to 2018.

Category: 
30/05/19

 

The recent deals from Calgary-based Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus Energy and Athabasca Oil Corporation to acquire billions in oilsands assets have brought much attention to the level of Canadian ownership of these projects and operations.

It’s time to look at the numbers. 

As it turns out, even before the approximately $31 billion combined value of these mining and thermal oil transactions, Canadian companies were responsible for the majority of bitumen volumes.

21/05/19
Author: 
JEFF LEWIS

 

May 20, 2019 - The federal and Alberta governments are planning to allow tar sands/oil sands companies to release 1.3 trillion litres of liquid waste, currently held in 220 square kilometres of tailings ponds across the northeastern part of the province, into the Athabasca River, under new regulations intended to take effect in 2022, the Globe and Mail reports.

03/05/19
Author: 
Mitchell Anderson
‘Whether or not the rest of the oil patch has as wretched a record of accuracy remains to be seen, but the missing 17 megatonnes thus far unearthed are enormous — equivalent to the entire carbon output of Toronto or Seattle.’ Photo by jasonwoodhead23, Creative Commons licensed.
 May 3, 2019

As disaster looms, petro province lets industry call the shots.
 
Mitchell Anderson is a freelance writer based in Vancouver and a frequent contributor to The Tyee.
 
Trust us. That has long been the message from the oil sector to the Alberta public, which seems to have little choice in the matter.

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