Iâm continuing this week’s tar sands theme. There seems to be no limits to how many people the Canadians will annoy in their attempt to impose the dirty tar sands on the worldâs oil markets. There is also no limit to their hypocrisy either. We know the Canadians are using strong-arm tactics to threaten the … Read More
Canada
Keystone XL: Its Not Jobs Versus Ideology
As the decision day for the Keystone XL pipeline draws ever nearer, the amount of rubbish being written by its proponents grows ever greater. Yesterday an article in the Vancouver Sun basically said the argument was very simple: it was jobs versus ideology. The article stated: âwill human employment and corporate revenue eventually prevail over … Read More
Chinese Increase Investment in Tar Sands
In its “Energy Outlook” for last month, the global investment bank Goldman Sachs argued that âChina remains the key growth driverâ for worldwide oil demand. One of the key questions for the past decade for many in the oil-game has been where China, this vast emerging super-power, is getting access to its oil and will … Read More
Canadaâs âDirty Lobby Diaryâ Exposed
Over the last few months I have been working with Friends of the Earth Europe looking at the extensive lobbying by the Canadian government over the tar sands in Europe. What we uncovered is that over the last two years we have seen a concerted lobbying campaign by the Canadian and Albertan governments to undermine … Read More
Canada’s âPipeline Through Paradiseâ
One of the biggest problems for proponents of the tar sands (apart from frying the climate and polluting the local rivers and ripping up ancient boreal forests) is getting the dirty oil to hungry markets. The route south from Alberta to America and the refineries of the Gulf coast hinges on the controversial Keystone XL … Read More
Keystone Spill Risk âFlawedâ, Argues Expert
Last week, came the news that an Exxon pipeline had ruptured into the beautiful Yellowstone river. This was quickly followed by the revelations that the controversial Keystone XL pipeline would pass under the same stretch of river, raising doubts over its safety and capacity to clean up any spill. Now this has been followed by … Read More
Now its Yellowstone To Keystone
You would have thought that Rupert Murdoch had enough on his plate right now without one of his paperâs backing the highly controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline in an editorial yesterday. Despite the deep controversy surrounding the specific project and the safety of pipelines in general, which have been reigntied by Exxonâs Yellowstone spill, … Read More
Keystone Could Add a âBillion-Tonsâ of CO2
As the row over the Keystone XL pipeline continues, the US is sending mixed messages over the dirty tar sands. Speaking to the Gas and Oil Expo and Conference, David Jacobson, the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, waxed lyrical about Canada, describing it as the “safest and most secure foreign supplier” of oil the US. “The … Read More
Deadline Day for Comments on Keystone
Today is the final day for public comment to the US Department of State over the draft Environmental Impact Statement for the highly controversial Keystone XL. Seen as a litmus test for the Obama administrationâs policies on climate change, Keystone XL is the proposed 1700-mile oil pipeline that is planned to bring some 830,000 barrels … Read More
Empty threats should not be made at âfriendsâ
Albertaâs minister of energy Ron Liepert was in New York this week and took the opportunity to threaten the State Department over the slow pace (as he sees it) of the approval process for the Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline is designed to carry up to 900,000 barrels per day of mostly tar sands derived … Read More