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Posts in tar sands

BP refinery rollover shows tar sands refineries need to clean up
Lorne Stockman
May24
It’s taken four years and millions of dollars in lawyers for BP to finally agree to do what it should have done in the first place at its Whiting, Indiana refinery. The refinery has been constructing new equipment to enable it to switch to 100% tar sands heavy oil processing, a $3.6 billion investment. But…
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Koch-ing the Climate: Exploiting the Tar Sands
Andy Rowell
May14
Last week, the god-father of climate science, James Hansen, who directs the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, re-iterated his warning about exploiting the tar sands in an op-ed in the New York Times. His warning was dire: “Canada’s tar sands contain twice the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by global oil use in our…
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Big Oil Approved Canada’s FQD Strategy
Andy Rowell
Apr30
We have known for a long time that the Canadian government was colluding with the oil and gas industry over tar sands and its campaign against Europe’s Fuel Quality Directive (FQD). But new documents have come to light that reveal the extent of that collusion, especially between Big Oil and Natural Resources Canada, the Department…
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“Bully-Boy Canada” Delays EU Action (Again)
Andy Rowell
Apr24
One of the dirtiest and diplomatically-brutal PR campaigns ever witnessed in Brussels has once again paid off. At the end of last week, the EU finally buckled to Canadian arm-twisting and delayed the introduction of the long awaited Fuel Quality Directive, which is designed to reduce carbon emissions from transport fuels. The European Council –…
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100 Days of Olympic Greenwashing
Andy Rowell
Apr18
Organisers of the London Olympics are celebrating 100 days to go until the start of what they have called “the Greenest Games Ever”. As the real countdown to the games begins, the main sponsors of the games will be exploiting their association with the Olympics to the maximum. Take BP – Its brand is all…
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Keystone refineries on export overdrive
Lorne Stockman
Apr04
In September 2011, we first reported that the refineries that will receive crude from the proposed Keystone XL pipeline are increasingly focused on exports. We can now reveal that in the last quarter of 2011, 73% of gasoline produced in Port Arthur and Houston area refineries was exported as was 40% of diesel production….
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$fracking$
US Oil Boom “Increases Energy Vulnerability”
Andy Rowell
Mar14
As the International Energy Agency warns that world oil markets face a “bumpy ride” in the months ahead, Barack Obama has being trying to defend his energy policies. His defence comes at a time when rising gas and energy production prices look increasingly likely to be become a key election issue in November, with his…
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Canada’s Top Level Collusion Over the Tar Sands
Andy Rowell
Mar12
Anyone who has been following the extensive international lobbying activities of the Canadians trying to bully tar sands onto the market, will know there has been routine high level cooperation between the Federal and Albertan governments and the oil industry. But now new documents, released under Freedom of Information, reveal that the Federal and Alberta…
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Tar Sands: “No get-out-of-jail-free card”
Andy Rowell
Feb22
If you read some of the Canadian press coverage, a recent scientific study has offered the pro-tar sands movement a real fillip in its attempts to spin its dirty fuel as “ethical oil” that is no dirtier than conventional crude. The Canadians are now essentially arguing it gives them the scientific back-up to carry on…
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Bully-Boy Canada Threatens EU (Again)
Andy Rowell
Feb21
For over a year now I have been working on and off with Friends of the Earth Europe examining the dirty lobbying by the Canadians on the EU’s Fuel Quality Directive. Last summer we produced a report entitled “Canada’s dirty lobby diary”. The report revealed the extent of Canada’s lobbying – one of the most…
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