Category Archives: Energy and Resources

Nikiforuk vs. Levant: Tar Sands Title Fight

November 10, 2010Energy and Resources, Tar SandsAlberta Tar Sands, Andrew Nikiforuk, Calgary Herald, Ethical Oil, Ezra LevantDamien Gillis

Sunday at the Plaza Theatre, a sold-out crowd of about 300 (with
about 40 turned away at the door), packed the old movie house to watch a
debate on the oilsands between Nikiforuk, the author of tar Sands:
Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent, and Levant, the author of
Ethical Oil. It was hosted (or refereed) by CBC morning man Jim Brown, who
provided Michael Buffer-like basso profundo to the proceedings, in
addition to his genial, witty presence. (I have expected him to announce
the combatants’s weights and then to say, “Let’s get ready to
rummmmmmmble!”) Read more of Clagary Herald article here

Canada’s Oil Patch Subsidies total $2.8 Billion

November 4, 2010Energy and Resources, Tar SandsAlberta Tar Sands, CanadaDamien Gillis

An independent analysis says Canadian governments are subsidizing the
oil patch to the tune of about $2.8 billion a year, despite a G20
agreement to pare back such support. Read more from CTV article here

US Tea Party’s Ties to Oil Sands Giant

November 2, 2010Climate Change, Energy and Resources, Tar SandsAlberta Tar Sands, big oil, bitumen, climate change, Geoff Dembicki, Koch Industries, Tea Party, The TyeeDamien Gillis

The Tea Party movement, poised to help shift the U.S. legislature to the right and stymie President Obama’s green agenda, has financial and organizational ties
to Koch Industries, one of America’s biggest processors of Alberta oil
sands crude. Read article in The Tyee

Clinton Facing Heat on Oil Sands Pipeline

November 1, 2010Energy and Resources, Tar SandsAlberta Tar SandsCommon Sense Canadian

Article by Elisabeth Rosenthal in the New York Times. “The pipeline, which will stretch from Alberta in Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast, would nearly double
the United States’ capacity to import oil made from Canadian oil sands.
Canadian oil sands are a plentiful and secure source of oil, but the
extraction process is high in carbon dioxide emissions and takes a toll
on pristine Canadian forest ecosystems.” Read article

Oil Sands Effort Turns on a Fight Over a Road

October 23, 2010Energy and Resources, Tar SandsAlberta Tar SandsCommon Sense Canadian

Article by Tom Zeller Jr. in the New York Times. International oil companies see US 12 as a road to riches. They are angling to use it to ship gargantuan loads of equipment from Vancouver, WA, to Montana and the tar sands of Alberta. Read article

Saying no to oil tankers off B.C.

October 19, 2010Energy and Resources, Tar SandsAlberta Tar Sands, The ProvinceCommon Sense Canadian

Article by Ian Austin in The Province. Rex Weyler: “We’re calling for an absolute, 100-per-cent ban on oil tankers on the West Coast.” Read article

Canada-US pipeline on hold amid oil’s recent woes

October 18, 2010Energy and Resources, Tar SandsAlberta Tar SandsCommon Sense Canadian

Article by James MacPherson and Josh Funk in Bloomberg Business Week. “Some experts conclude the so-called Keystone XL pipeline is a victim of guilt by association amid the negative publicity of the Gulf Coast oil rig explosion and other spills.” Read article

Activists stage slick protest over tankers

October 15, 2010Energy and Resources, Tar SandsAlberta Tar Sands, The ProvinceCommon Sense Canadian

Article by Kent Spencer in The Province. “Ten shivering bathers, covered in brown molasses and sand, collapsed on the beach in a mock ‘die-in’ to call attention to the dangers of tanker traffic in local waters.” Read article

Pipeline Plan Slams into $120 Million Coastal Eco-Pact

October 14, 2010Energy and Resources, Tar SandsAlberta Tar Sands, The TyeeCommon Sense Canadian

Article by Geoff Dembicki at The Tyee. “How do you develop a pristine eco-system? Or do you develop it at all?
Green groups, First Nations and logging companies fought bitterly over these issues during the decades-long campaign to protect the coastal Great Bear Rainforest.” Read article

B.C. oil pipeline, tankers opposed by UBCM

October 3, 2010Energy and Resources, Tar SandsAlberta Tar SandsCommon Sense Canadian

Story from the Canadian Press.

“Delegates at the UBCM conference in Whistler overwhelmingly passed two motions brought forward Friday by the Village of Queen Charlotte.

“The first urged Ottawa to legislate a ban on bulk crude oil tanker traffic through Queen Charlotte Sound, Dixon Entrance and Hecate Strait, while the second opposes the Northern Gateway pipeline between Alberta’s oilsands and the B.C. coast, proposed by Enbridge Inc.”

Read article

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