National Energy Board panelists, back row, stand with Haisla First Nation Hereditary Chiefs during the opening day of hearings for the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project in Kitamaat Village, British Columbia, on January 10. Several hundred people gathered for hearings on whether a pipeline should be laid from the Alberta tar sands to the Pacific Ocean (Associated Press photo).

Alternate route hits familiar obstacles

KITAMAAT VILLAGE, B.C. – The latest chapter in Canada’s quest to become a full-blown oil superpower unfolded this month in a village gym on the British Columbia coast.

Here, several hundred people gathered for hearings on whether a pipeline should be laid from the Alberta oil sands to the Pacific in order to deliver oil to Asia, chiefly energy-hungry China. The stakes are particularly high for the village of Kitamaat, south of Kitimat, because the pipeline would terminate here and a port would be built to handle 220 tankers a year and 525,000 barrels of oil a day.

But the planned Northern Gateway Pipeline is just one aspect of an epic battle over Canada’s oil ambitions – a battle that already has a supporting role in the U.S. presidential election, and which will help to shape North America’s future energy relationship with China.

Read more: Canadian Oil Pipeline Would Be Path to China

(By Rob Gillies, Associated Press, The Spokesman-Review)

(Link provided by Tom Hansen)

CALGARY, Alberta – Imperial Oil Ltd. said Wednesday it will go ahead with an  $8.9 billion Canadian (US$8.6 billion) expansion to its Kearl oil sands mine in  Alberta.

The Calgary-based oil producer and refiner said the second phase of the  project is slated to begin producing 110,000 barrels of oil per day by late  2015.

Read more: Imperial Oil Announces $8.6 Billion Expansion of Kearl Oil Fields

(The Associated Press, Missoulian)

Transports through Idaho of megaloads of industrial equipment that expand regionally destructive Alberta tar sands mining operations hasten global climate change and subsequent worldwide ecological chaos. Nathan Foster animated this interview at a protest of Moscow activist Helen Yost for a University of Idaho class project.

(Link provided by Nathan Foster)

Created by Powderhouse Productions in 2005 for the National Geographic Channel’s MegaStructures series, this 48-minute reasonably neutral documentary reveals an intimate view of on-site tar sands extraction and transportation, facilities construction, and bitumen production processes at Syncrude’s vast mine near Fort McMurray in northeastern Alberta, Canada.  Many of the structures visible during development of a competing Shell Oil upgrader plant reflect Korean-made ExxonMobil/Imperial Oil components currently moving as megaloads through the U.S. Northwest.

(Link provided by Ethan Nilsson)

We don’t need the pipelines, megaloads, or tar sands to give us more jobs.

1) “Across a range of clean energy projects, including renewable energy, transportation, and energy efficiency, for every million dollars spent, 16.7 green jobs are created.  That is over three times the 5.3 jobs per million dollars that are created from the same spending on fossil-fuel industries.”

Searching for Green Jobs for the Coalfields

2) “Despite generating $546 billion in profits between 2005 and 2010, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, and BP together reduced their U.S. workforce by 11,200 employees during that time.”

Big Oil Companies Make Huge Profits with Taxpayer Support but Cut Jobs Anyway

3) Researchers at Cornell University put a lot of time and energy into examining the subject of jobs and the Keystone XL pipeline.  Share their findings by downloading a free pdf document from this page:

Cornell University Economists Debunk Keystone XL Economic Claims

(Information compiled by Sharon Cousins.)

We don’t need the tar sands oil to give us “enough” oil or to free us from oil connections in the Middle East.

1) We have so much oil that the USA is exporting oil.  If we need more, we can export less.

U.S. Awash in Oil and Lies, Report Charges

For more in-depth information, click on “new report” to download a detailed pdf document.

2) We may not need dirty oil from the ground at all pretty soon.  We can pull excess carbon dioxide out of thin air and recycle it into carbon neutral fuel.

Enzyme Holds the Key to Renewable Hydrocarbons

3) We can also have ethanol without starving Africa or triggering frenzied corn speculation.  Many plants that can grow on land not suitable for major food crops can be used to make ethanol.  Agave is just one of them.

Mexico & Agaves: Moving from Tequila to Ethanol

4) Hemp offers many possibilities for cleaner and sustainable fuels.

Hemp Fuel

(Information compiled by Sharon Cousins.)

Filmed at TEDxVictoria on November 19, 2011, photographer Garth Lenz shares shocking pictures of the environmental devastation of Alberta tar sands mining projects and the beautiful and vital ecosystems they jeopardize.  For almost twenty years, Garth’s photography of threatened wilderness regions, ecological destruction, and impacts on indigenous peoples has appeared in the world’s leading publications.  His recent images from the boreal region of Canada have helped lead to significant victories and large new protected areas in the Northwest Territories, Quebec, and Ontario.  Garth’s major touring exhibit about the tar sands premiered in Los Angeles in 2011 and recently appeared in New York.  Garth is a fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers.

A powerful documentary on the Great Bear Rainforest by EP Films, Spoil shows the splendor of nature with some beautiful photography.  It highlights the nature we all want to protect, but our blinkered and incessant addiction to burn more oil is helping to destroy.

Winner of the top environmental award at the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival, Spoil is a lovely film and a perfect way to encourage us all to help protect and nurture nature and not destroy it for the sake of dirty oil.  We need to stop buying dirty oil and move faster into clean, renewable electricity. Continue reading →