As the oil price continues to delay development in the controversial and dirty oil sands, two Canadian oil companies have responded by consolidating their operations and merging. When Suncor Energy and Petro-Canada announced earlier this week that they were to merge to create Canada’s largest oil company, Suncor’s president and CEO Rick George said: âI … Read More
Canada
Co-Op Funds Tar Sands Legal Challenge
The fight over tar sands is definitely hotting up. Britainâs leading âethicalâ bank, the Co-operative will announce today that it is to help fund a legal challenge by the Beaver Lake Cree Nation, which claims the boom in dirty tar sands extraction is destroying their ancestral hunting lands.
Obama Agrees: There is âNo Silver Bulletâ
Never has a Presidentâs words been scrutinised in so much detail, with people looking for a sign or slip about what he is thinking. Analysts and journalists have poured over his remarks during his brief trip to Canada on NAFTA, Afghanistan, climate change, clean energy and tar sands.
Messages to Obama: There is no “Silver Bullet” Over Tar Sands
You expected President Obamaâs visit to Ottawa later today to create quite a stir, but the New President is being bombarded with letters, banners, adverts and interviews all with one message â to back away from Canada’s dirty tar sands. Obama promised a new kind of politics where he will listen to the voices of … Read More
Obama Bets on Unproven Carbon Capture “Technology”
Eight months ago, in June 2008 President Obama was trying to improve his green credentials. The press were reporting how Obama may âSay no to Canadian tar sandsâ. One press report at the time noted that âBarack Obama took aim at the Alberta oilsands, declaring he would break Americaâs addiction to âdirty, dwindling, and dangerously … Read More
One Hours Profit for 500 Dead Ducks
The images last year of some 500 dead and dying ducks drowning in a toxic tailings pond was not one that Canada wanted the world to see. They wanted to keep the downside of Canada’s dirty tar sands business secret. But the images of the dying birds flashed around the world much to the annoyance … Read More
Canadian Begins Tar Sands Charm Offensive to Obama
No one would envy the size or serious nature of President Obamaâs inbox when he takes office next week: the deepest recession for decades, Americaâs economy in freefall, conflict in the Middle East, climate change to name just a few. There will be pressing issues at home and abroad. You would think that given the … Read More
Shell Postpones Second Oil Sands Project
A few months ago it was all boom in Alberta. There was a labour shortage, skills shortage and the dollars were pouring in. Not any more. One by one the investments are drying up, as the crunch hits and the oil price bounces around the $50 mark. Oil giant Shell has announced it is delaying … Read More
Barack Beware of the âFriendly Barrelsâ of Oil Sands
As many part of the world celebrated an Obama victory last week, his resounding success would have caused deep concern to the Canadian oil sands industry and Canadaâs Prime Minster, Stephen Harper. During the campaign, Obama condemned US reliance on â”dirty, dwindling and expensive oil,” and his campaign team singled out oil sands as a … Read More
“The air is foul, the water is being drained and poisonedâ
So says Maude Barlow, the chairwoman of the Council of Canadians, who has just been appointed to advise the United Nations on water issues, after a recent flight over the oil sands. During the trip, she saw steam rising from the ground, no birds in the sky or animals on the ground. “We were devastated … Read More