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Post by moabiter on Jul 31, 2010 23:57:06 GMT -8
What Those Who Killed the Tar Sands Report Don't Want You to Know Why did a parliamentary committee suddenly destroy drafts of a final report on tar sands pollution? Here's what they knew. By Andrew Nikiforuk, 15 Jul 2010, TheTyee.ca Just two weeks ago the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development abruptly cancelled a big report on the tar sands and the project's extreme water impacts. The parliamentarians even destroyed draft copies of their final report. After listening to testimony from scores of scientists, bureaucrats, lobbyists, aboriginal chiefs and environmental groups, the committee dropped the whole affair like a bucket of tar. (For the record, the Alberta government, a petro-state with Saudi visions of grandeur, refused to show up and testify.) Killing reports paid for by Canadian taxpayers on a $200-billion backyard development is not the sort of behavior one associates with a "responsible energy producer," but there you have it. While federal panjandrums argue that the tar sands may be key to our economic prosperity, our politicians couldn't put aside their partisan views long enough to complete a national report on the project's formidable water liabilities. Fortunately, civilians can do what politicians can't. In the interests of accountability and transparency, I read through 300 pages of evidence and pulled out the sort of uncomfortable revelations that Ottawa doesn't want U.S. oil customers, industry investors or Canadian taxpayers to know. The evidence, of course, all points to one embarrassing conclusion: Ottawa has managed its mandate in the tar sands as irresponsibly as the U.S. Mineral Management Services oversaw the safety of deep sea drilling in the Gulf... Leaking and seeping Cynthia Wright, acting assistant deputy minister of Environmental Stewardship branch, explained that Environment Canada was not involved in the design of tailing ponds holding six-billion barrels of toxic fish-killing and cancer-making mining waste that cover an 170 square kilometre area along the Athabasca River because the ponds don't contain fish. Wright also claimed the ponds don't leak. But two University of Waterloo scientists, who study tailings pollution and groundwater for living, gave evidence proving that Environment Canada was out to lunch. James Barker, an earth science professor at the University of Waterloo, testified that the tailing ponds do leak and seep. In particular "seepage of process affected water is occurring from the (Suncor's) Tar Island dike into the sediments of the Athabasca River" at a rate of 67 litres per second. thetyee.ca/Opinion/2010/07/15/TarSandsReport/?utm_source=mondayheadlines&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=190710
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Post by moabiter on Sept 9, 2010 9:09:34 GMT -8
Bird death totals don't add up: study September 8, 2010 Estimates by industry a fraction of actual loss of animal life in tailing ponds, researcher says A new study co-authored by a local researcher suggests the number of bird deaths in northern Alberta's tailings ponds is between seven and 77 times higher than industry estimates. While government and industry question the numbers, Kevin Timoney, an Edmonton-area ecologist with Treeline Ecological Research, estimates between 458 and 5,029 birds die each year after landing in tailings ponds filled with hydrocarbons, brine, silts, clays, heavy metals, bitumen, ammonia and naphthenic acids. Industry reports suggest an average of 65 birds die each year. www.calgaryherald.com/business/Bird+death+totals+study/3495317/story.html?id=3495317
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Post by clone on Sept 17, 2010 14:11:25 GMT -8
Ottawa asked to study fish in oilsands area Thu Sep 16, 11:00 PM One whitefish has a golfball-sized tumour bulging from its side. Another is simply missing part of its spine, its tail growing from a stumpy rear end. One has no snout. Another is coloured a lurid red instead of a healthy cream. Others are covered with lesions and still others are bent and crooked from deformed vertebrae. All were taken from Lake Athabasca, downstream from the oilsands in northern Alberta, and were on display Thursday. All are reasons, say a group of scientists and aboriginals, for the federal government to conduct an independent study on what's happening to the Athabasca River and its watershed after decades of industry expansion. SLIDESHOW: 1/36 A deformed white fish, caught in Lake Athabasca near Fort Chipewyan, is on display during a press conference in Edmonton, Alta., on Thursday, September 16, 2010. The National Pollutant Release Inventory shows that the oil sands industry is releasing large pollutants and deleterious substances have been deposited in the water. ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100916/national/oilsands_fish_study
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Post by clone on Sept 18, 2010 10:18:14 GMT -8
Oilsands cleanup policies "inadequate": report Reclamation could cost taxpayers $15 billion Published September 16, 2010 As of 2009, the province’s Environmental Protection Security Fund had $820 million stashed away to reclaim more than 68,574 hectares of disturbed land. However, using government and industry figures, Pembina pegs the cost closer to $15 billion — about $6,300 per Albertan. With 10,000 mines abandoned or not reclaimed across the country, Albertans should be concerned about getting stuck with the bill, says Lemphers. www.ffwdweekly.com/article/news-views/news/oilsands-cleanup-policies-inadequate-report-6295/Reclamation could cost taxpayers $15 billion???!!!!!!
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Post by canuck on Sept 18, 2010 23:36:13 GMT -8
EDWARD BURTYNSKY: OIL Winner of the And/or Book Award 2010 for photography, given by the London-based Krasna-Krausz Foundation. Alberta Oil Sands #1... Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, 2007 www.edwardburtynsky.com/18 Sep 2010. Canada's Oilsands a 'national treasure' US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham Think of the oilsands as a ‘national treasure’: CEO September 9, 2010. Executive does damage control while environmentalists meet U.S. officials “I’m not going to stand here and tell you we’ve achieved everything [in terms of environmental mitigation], and we may not perfect it by the time we deplete this resource,” Coutu said, but he encouraged the audience to think of the oilsands as a “national treasure” in terms of the economic benefits it and energy security it gives Canadians. www.vancouversun.com/business/Think+oilsands+national+treasure/3502974/story.html
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Post by moabiter on Sept 19, 2010 21:00:19 GMT -8
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Post by clone on Sept 20, 2010 22:08:58 GMT -8
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Post by moabiter on Oct 28, 2010 9:03:18 GMT -8
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Post by moabiter on Jan 11, 2011 11:57:32 GMT -8
Carbon injected underground now leaking, Saskatchewan farmer's study says Last Modified: 01/11/2011 1:22 PM A Saskatchewan farm couple whose land lies over the world's largest carbon capture and storage project says greenhouse gases that were supposed to have been injected permanently underground are leaking out, killing animals and sending groundwater foaming to the surface like shaken-up soda pop. Cameron and Jane Kerr, who own nine quarter-sections of land above the Weyburn oilfield in eastern Saskatchewan, released a consultant's report Tuesday that claims to link high concentrations of carbon dioxide in their soil to the 8,000 tonnes of the gas injected underground every day by energy giant Cenovus in its attempt to enhance oil recovery and fight climate change. www.winnipegfreepress.com/greenpage/environment/carbon-injected-underground-now-leaking-saskatchewan-farmers-study-says-113276449.html
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Post by moabiter on Jan 11, 2011 12:08:56 GMT -8
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Post by moabiter on Jan 11, 2011 12:22:40 GMT -8
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Post by clone on Jan 29, 2011 7:46:48 GMT -8
First Nations critical of newest oil sands report BEAVER LAKE CREE NATION Volume: 18, Issue: 2, Year: 2011 At the heart of Ron Lameman’s comments is the newly released report, Royal Society of Canada Expert Panel: Environmental and Health Impacts of Canada’s Oil Sands Industry. The 438-page report www.rsc-src.ca/expertpanels_reports.php ignores the people who live in the region and who feel the impacts of the development personally, said Lameman. [Report exec. summary, 22pp: www.rsc-src.ca/documents/expert/RSC_ExP_ExecutiveSummary_ENG_Dec14_10_FINAL_v5.pdf ] “The report doesn’t give enough credit to acknowledge the knowledge of Indigenous people. It’s based on (the panel’s) skewed scientific knowledge,” said Lameman. The panel was struck in 2009 to “review and assess available evidence” on the impact of development of the oil sands in northern Alberta. Clayton Thomas-Muller, Tar Sands Campaigner of the Indigenous Environmental Network, said the data came primarily from government and industry sources... “When (development) first started it was always done a little bit at a time. But the huge push to expand the tar sands 10-fold has been a very recent development,” said Lameman.
The impact of the increased pace has been felt, he said, pointing to the wildlife, habitat, air quality, water quality and health —all of which are areas the expert panel said have experienced “minimal impacts.”www.ammsa.com/publications/alberta-sweetgrass/first-nations-critical-newest-oil-sands-reportThe Beaver Lake Cree vs Tar Sands on Facebook www.facebook.com/toxicfuelsSome newsy posts there ^^ !! January 26, 2011. Liepert to promote Alberta's energy sector in Europe - Will also share province's clean energy story in the United States. Edmonton... Energy Minister Ron Liepert will promote Alberta as a leading source of secure energy in the United Kingdom and Belgium, January 28 to February 5. www.gov.ab.ca/acn/201101/29818C3959971-9862-982B-67D0E6D0B5B47B40.htmlSign our petition to "keep tar sands out of Europe" www.tarnishedearth.co.uk/sayno and watch this space for developments. Yesterday it was announced that Gasland has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. UK film critics have hailed Gasland as "Powerful, disturbing and important" (The Sunday Mirror) and "Essential viewing" (The Observer), to name but a few. www.facebook.com/notes/the-beaver-lake-cree-vs-tar-sands/oscar-nomination-for-must-see-gasland/10150389250660352See another thread: WATER - Fracking, Halliburton, Methane, Chemicals www.pyrelog.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=earth&action=display&thread=337
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Post by clone on Jan 29, 2011 7:57:13 GMT -8
National Review of Medicine MARCH 30, 2007, VOLUME 4 NO. 6 Health Canada muzzles oilsands whistleblower AB physician sounded cancer alarm, slapped with College complaint A northern Alberta physician who publicly aired concerns over carcinogenic pollution from the massive oilsands development is being investigated by the province's College of Physicians and Surgeons. The complaint against him comes from none other than Health Canada, which claims the physician caused "undue alarm." The doc — widely held to be Dr John O'Connor of Fort Chipewyan — says he's got a hunch the copious amounts of arsenic dumped into the water by the project might explain why so many of his mostly aboriginal patients are presenting with cancer — including rarer forms like cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer). www.nationalreviewofmedicine.com/issue/2007/03_30/4_policy_politics1_6.html
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Post by clone on Jan 29, 2011 8:04:49 GMT -8
Canada’s Kent far from Superman What can we expect of Prentice's successor? Don't hold your breath. Published January 20, 2011 Right out of the gate, Kent made comments that could have been prepared by the communications department at the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, an industry lobby group that has characterized its work to manipulate public opinion and promote Big Oil public policy as “God’s work.” Rather than owning up to the snafu going on in northern Alberta and committing to fix it, Kent chose to stick to the rhetoric and ignore the science. "There has been a demonization of a legitimate resource," Kent told the media shortly after accepting his new position. Oilsands crude "is ethical oil. It is regulated oil.” And, he went on to say, “There is absolutely no scientific evidence that there has been any leaking from tailings ponds into the Athabasca River." It is remarkable that Kent — who is the environment minister, remember, not the minister of industry — failed to mention increasing numbers of deformed fish, disappearing caribou populations, increasing greenhouse gas emissions, admission by industry of tailings ponds seepage, inadequate consultation with First Nations and the abject failure of government to regulate an industry that, if the paltry amount of legitimate scientific research that does exist is any indication, is slowly poisoning the land and water in northern Alberta. That we’re better than, say, Nigeria is totally beside the point. www.ffwdweekly.com/article/news-views/viewpoint/canadas-kent-far-from-superman-6896/
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Post by clone on Feb 2, 2011 23:57:27 GMT -8
Professor quits oil-sands panel over strict confidentiality requirements Last updated Wednesday, Feb. 02, 2011 11:36PM EST Less than a week after its members were announced, an Alberta oil sands panel has lost one of them over strict confidentiality rules she felt would prevent her from involving other groups, including aboriginals, in the panel’s work. American water policy expert Helen Ingram submitted her resignation to Alberta Environment on Tuesday, five days after Environment Minister Rob Renner announced the composition of the panel. It’s the latest blow as the province continues to pledge it will strengthen monitoring of the oil sands. www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/professor-quits-oil-sands-panel-over-strict-confidentiality-requirements/article1891910/
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