New York Mayor Pushes for Renewable

New York Times, August 20, 2008

Bloomberg Offers Windmill Power Plan

By MICHAEL BARBARO

In a plan that would drastically remake New York City’s skyline and shores, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is seeking to put wind turbines on the city’s bridges and skyscrapers and in its waters as part of a wide-ranging push to develop renewable energy.

The plan, while still in its early stages, appears to be the boldest environmental proposal to date from the mayor, who has made energy efficiency a cornerstone of his administration.

Mr. Bloomberg said he would ask private companies and investors to study how windmills can be built across the city, with the aim of weaning it off the nation’s overtaxed power grid, which has produced several crippling blackouts in New York over the last decade.

First Nations Unite to Fight the Tar Sands

Natives unite to fight oilsands

Vow to go to court to stop ‘poisoning’ of rivers

Darcy Henton

The Edmonton Journal

Monday, August 18, 2008

CREDIT: Darcy Henton/Edmonton Journal Chipewyan elder Pat Marcel, 70, on the shore of Lake Athabasca where several hundred aboriginal leaders and environmental groups met for a Water is Boss conference on the weekend. Marcel says the community is not scaremongering when they say toxins in the Athabasca are killing the people.

FORT CHIPEWYAN – Aboriginal leaders vow to go to court to stop what they say is the destruction of their land and the poisoning of their water.

Chiefs from three provinces and the Northwest Territories made the joint declaration Sunday at the conclusion of a water conference in Fort Chipewyan.

They say Alberta’s oldest European settlement is on the brink of catastrophe.

Athabasca Chipewyan Chief Allan Adam said aboriginal people cannot sit still and allow their land and water to be destroyed.

Greengroups quit government tar sands group

Green groups quit oil sands forum

Protest move made as Industry Minister in U.S. to address concerns about environmental impact

PAUL HAAVARDSRUD AND SHAWN MCCARTHY

August 19, 2008

CALGARY AND OTTAWA — Three groups have quit a government-sponsored forum for assessing environmental costs in the oil sands, a move that undercuts government efforts to burnish the image of the massive developments in U.S. markets.

The latest flare-up between the Alberta government and environmental activists came as federal Industry Minister Jim Prentice sought to reassure an international audience that the oil sands are being developed in a responsible way and are critical to U.S. energy security.

New Chief prepares for tarsands fight

New chief prepares his people for oilsands fight

Revitalized Athabasca Chipewyan say Edmonton-born leader is no soft touch

Darcy Henton

The Edmonton Journal

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

FORT CHIPEWYAN – It’s mealtime at the Fort Chipewyan water conference and Chief Allan Adam leaves the food lineup with two brimming plates of roast beef. But as he wades through the crowd to his seat, he ends up giving his food away to others.

The second time it happens, he laughs about being such a soft touch, and wonders whether people will let him pass to the front of the line again.

He needn’t worry. On his third try, he manages to secure a meal for himself.

Residents of this remote, fly-in community, nearly 600 kilometres north of Edmonton, say the youthful, light-hearted new chief of the Athabasca Chipewyan has revitalized them with his enthusiasm and his charm, but that he’s definitely no soft touch.

That could be bad news for oilsands companies and a provincial government seemingly intent on dramatically boosting bitumen production to meet the world’s thirst for oil.