Tar Sands: Bad Idea

Environmentalist hates Findlay’s idea of turning Canadian tar sands into fuel

Environment Ohio’s Amy Gomberg

Most tar sand mining takes place in Alberta and the other prairie provinces

A state environmentalist is speaking out against Findlay’s plan to mine tar sands from Canada and convert them into automotive fuel.

Geothermal Gets No Love

Geothermal `not getting any love’ TheStar.com – Business – Geothermal `not getting any love’

Canada has significant `earth energy’ potential, but critics say it’s not doing much about it

July 17, 2008

Tyler Hamilton

Energy Reporter

Canada’s obsession with “clean coal” and carbon capture technologies has left it blind to the vast potential of its own geothermal resources, says the head of one of the country’s few publicly traded developers of geothermal power.

Gary Thompson, chief executive of Sierra Geothermal Power Inc. of Vancouver, said the neglect has left Canada a laggard among peers who view emission-free geothermal power as a strategic part of their electricity mix.

“We’re one of the few countries with significant geothermal potential that’s not doing anything about it,” said Thompson, adding that the federal government has shown little interest, despite calls for more study. “It’s rather disconcerting. They’ve really been letting Canadians down.”

Big Oil Raid on Great Plains

Bush Crony’s $10 Oil Refinery Seeks U.S. Government Guarantees

Big Oil’s Raid on the Great Plains

By JAMES G. ABOUREZK

Full disclosure: I am the attorney for one of the groups in opposition to the oil refinery proposed by Hyperion Resources in Union County, South Dakota.

Like Dr. Stockmann in Henrik Ibsen’s play, An Enemy of the People, Ed Cable, a construction consultant living in Union County, South Dakota, is trying to warn the residents of the county about the dangers of permitting an oil refinery to be constructed on the pristine farmlands in southeastern South Dakota.

In a modern day re-enactment of the Ibsen play, Cable leads a group opposing the projected oil refinery in Union County, which is about as far from an oil well as one can get.  His effort has been to sound an alarm to people about the major problems that will come with such a project, i.e., the pollution, the problems that will come with a massive influx of construction workers, and the lack of adequate hospitals and law enforcement to service such an influx.  He has found it as difficult as Dr. Stockmann to overcome the promise of money flowing into the area because of the refinery’s construction.

Liability Issue Over Carbon Capture

Liability issue raised over carbon capture

Dan Healing

Calgary Herald

Thursday, July 17, 2008

The Alberta government is considering a formula to share future legal liability for stored carbon with industry as it moves forward with a $2-billion carbon capture and sequestration program.

Calgary MLA Len Webber, parliamentary assistant of energy, told an oilsands trade show audience in Calgary Wednesday the Alberta Carbon Capture and Storage Development Council is looking at the issue and will make recommendations this October.

“There is some discussion regarding perhaps the industry having liability for the first 10 years and after that the liability would be transferred over to the government but it’s a work in progress,” Webber said in response to a question from an audience member from Houston.

Why $4 Billion Doesn’t Mean Much

Issues – 2 + 2 = 5

Why Alberta’s $4 billion greenwash doesn’t add up to much of anything

RICARDO ACUÑA / ualberta.ca/parkland

It seems lately that the role of government in Alberta has become more and more about image and spin than about actually doing anything concrete and positive in the public interest. The attitude seems to be that it doesn’t really matter if you are actually doing anything positive, as long as you can convince people that you are.

Given this priority set, the Alberta government is currently facing two significant image problems that it has to deal with. The first is the fact that a growing number of people and jurisdictions around the world are concerned about the environmental costs associated with extracting Alberta’s bituminous sands.

Suncor Pipeline Rupture

Suncor pipeline spill results in shutdown

By CAROL CHRISTIAN
Today staff
Thursday July 17, 2008

It’s estimated that up to 1,260 barrels of diesel fuel was spilled as a result of a leak from a Suncor Energy pipeline Tuesday morning about 40 kilometres north of Lac La Biche.
“It’s a very considerable size spill,” said Darin Barter, Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) spokesman this morning. He added the pipeline was shutdown immediately after the leak was first noticed by staff at Suncor’s Pipeline Control Centre in Sherwood Park.

Ontario to Join in Carbon Trading Pact

Ontario to sign cap-and-trade climate plan

McGuinty pans Alberta plan to invest in carbon capture, storage

Lee Greenberg, The Ottawa Citizen

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=d7f4d1a6-3718-45d8-bbaa-7e401aa3fb99

Published: Friday, July 18, 2008

QUEBEC CITY – Ontario will join a transcontinental environmental network devoted to fighting climate change as early as today, increasing pressure on Alberta and Saskatchewan to ramp up their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In a move praised by environmentalists, Ontario will sign on to the Western Climate Initiative, joining seven U.S. states, British Columbia, Manitoba and Quebec. The WCI includes plans to establish North America’s first transcontinental cap-and-trade system in 2012.

One climate-change expert described the news as “an important development” in the fight against greenhouse gas emissions.

Chipewyan Prairie Dene Sue Alberta Government over Tar Sands

Dene Sue Alberta – Seek Protection of Rights

14 July 08

The Chipewyan Prairie Dene First Nation (CPDFN) filed the most recent of three First Nation lawsuits against the Alberta government. All demand meaningful consultation on oil sands development and protection of their Treaty Rights. CPDFN lawsuit in June 2008, came after the Alberta government leased land in the heart of their traditional territory around Christina and Winifred Lakes to MEG Energy Corporation. The First Nation asserts the government did not uphold their constitutional duty to consult with them on the Christina Lake Regional Project Phase 3.