Who Will Pay for BP Refinery

Northwest Indiana Times

Who will pay for the BP expansion?

By Bessie Dent | Thursday, July 17, 2008

The BP Refinery in Whiting has the go-ahead to build a $3.8 billion “upgrade” to process tar sands from Alberta, Canada — a dirty, inefficient, and expensive process from beginning to end.

Producing one barrel of tar sands oil requires removing an average of four tons of earth, uses between two and 4.5 barrels of water, and consumes enough natural gas to heat a family home for two to four days. The resulting barrel of “oil” is actually a barrel of asphalt.

Upgraders No Sound Investment

Canadian oil sands: A chorus of concern for the environment

By Bernard Simon in Toronto

Published: June 30 2008 00:33 | Last updated: June 30 2008 00:33

function floatContent(){var paraNum = “3″
paraNum = paraNum – 1;var tb = document.getElementById(‘floating-con’);var nl = document.getElementById(‘floating-target’);if(tb.getElementsByTagName(“div”).length> 0){if (nl.getElementsByTagName(“p”).length>= paraNum){nl.insertBefore(tb,nl.getElementsByTagName(“p”)[paraNum]);}else {if (nl.getElementsByTagName(“p”).length == 3){nl.insertBefore(tb,nl.getElementsByTagName(“p”)[2]);}else {nl.insertBefore(tb,nl.getElementsByTagName(“p”)[0]);}}}}

Whenever residents of Edmonton, Alberta flush their toilets after 2012, some of their sewage will find its way to a Petro-Canada plant northeast of the city that converts bitumen-like oil sands into crude oil.

Petro-Canada has promised that the first phase of the Fort Hills Sturgeon upgrader, consuming 15.8m litres of water a day, will not only run entirely on treated wastewater, but will then send the used water back to Edmonton for further recycling.

The Fort Hills initiative is one of many environmentally friendly processes companies are trumpeting in response to a widening chorus of concern about the damage caused by oil sands extraction and upgrading on water supplies, wildlife habitat and the atmosphere.

Area residents voice upgrader concerns

Sturgeon County upgrader plans cause frustration for heartland farmers, residents

By Conal MacMillan
Record Staff
Friday June 27, 2008

Strathcona County resident Maureen Chichak was among several industrial heartland residents who joined together to form Concerned Citizens for Responsible Development, announced a press conference last week in Edmonton. Conal MacMillan/Fort Record

Over 100 residents and activists began airing their concerns about a proposed Sturgeon County upgrader Monday as a public hearing into the Petro Canada Fort Hills project got underway in Fort Saskatchewan.

The capacity crowd at the Ross Creek Room in the Lakeview Inn and Suites spilled into the hallway as the Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) started its public hearing into the upgrader project planned for a site north of Fort Saskatchewan.

Greenpeace and Sierra Club activists greeted the gathering outside with “Stelmach’s backyard = Cancer alley” signs and a Premier Ed Stelmach mask.

Damage spreads

Less than 100 kilometres southeast of Edmonton, me and my neighbours’ farms and homes are being threatened by the proposed Dodds Roundhill coal gasification project.

To provide energy to these upgraders, Sherritt International and their funding partners — the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan and Epcor — plan to build one or more coal gasification plants to produce synthetic gas.

The accompanying strip mine would, over its life, occupy 312 square kilometres (31,000 hectares) of prime agricultural land. The proposed plant site and nearly all of the mine is in Premier Ed Stelmach’s riding. Along with these types of development come pipelines, power lines and other infrastructure that interfere with farming practices and have a negative impact on landowners’ quality of life. The energy industry has a huge economic impact in Alberta, but are the long- term costs starting to outweigh the short-term benefits?

J . W. (Bill) Sears, Tofield

Upgraders need too much water

Upgraders need too much water

The Edmonton Journal

Monday, June 23, 2008

Re: “Upgrader Alley pause urged; Think-tank wants environmental rules set before new permits,” The Journal, June 16.

The biggest travesty relating to Upgrader Alley originates at the Gold Bar waste-water treatment plant in Edmonton. It is there that Epcor, the city-owned utility, plans to take 26 million litres of reclaimed water per day — an amount equal to the daily water consumption of the city of Edmonton. This water is presently returned to the river for use downstream. If the plan goes ahead, no water will be returned to the river by Epcor.

Upgrader Hearings Met with Opposition

FORT SASKATCHEWAN, Alta. — A hearing is under way regarding a proposed new upgrader project northeast of Edmonton.

The Energy Resources Conservation Board is looking at a proposal by Petro-Canada to build a $7-billion oil upgrader northwest of Edmonton.

A hearing that started today in Fort Saskatchewan will hear the company’s formal proposal and give landowners a chance to voice opposition.

Those against the idea are concerned about the pollution the project could bring to what’s known as Upgrader Alley because of several existing and proposed facilities.

Landowners raise concerns about Edmonton-area upgraders

IMAGES

Uncredited image

Anne Brown, who lives in the area northeast of Edmonton known as “upgrader alley,” says many people call the region “cancer alley” because of the number of people who have fallen ill.(CBC)

Uncredited image

Shell Canada’s Scotford refinery, the first of the Edmonton-area upgrader plants, has been in operation since 1983.(CBC)

CBC.CA News
Section: Edmonton
Broadcast Date: Friday, June 20, 2008
Time: Thu June 19 18:34:02 2008 EDT
Network: CBC

A group of landowners and farmers northeast of Edmonton spoke out Thursday about the growing number of heavy oil processing plants proposed for the area known as “upgrader alley.”

They are worried what the expansion of the upgrader industry will mean to the air and water quality in the area, and how the plants will affect the health of their families. Upgraders transform bitumen found in Alberta’s oilsands into synthetic oil.

Residents Say NO to Upgraders

Residents speak out over latest project in Alberta’s busy ‘upgrader alley’ (Alta-Upgrader-Alley)

<!– google_ad_client = “pub-5199703554564395″; /* 250×250, created 3/6/08 */ google_ad_slot = “7809297577″; google_ad_width = 250; google_ad_height = 250; //–> EDMONTON _ Plans for massive multibillion-dollar projects in an area of Alberta known as Upgrader Alley are galvanizing opposition from landowners and residents who fear they are about to be surrounded by polluters. Some fear toxic emissions will foul the air. Others say existing petroleum and chemical plants northeast of Edmonton are already belching too many harmful substances. Still others are using the term “cancer alley” for the portion of Sturgeon County where the sprawling upgraders that transform gooey bitumen into synthetic oil are being built.

Residents say no to Upgraders

Residents speak out over latest project in Alberta’s busy ‘upgrader alley’

1 hour ago

EDMONTON — Landowners and residents are speaking out against the latest in a growing list of upgrader projects for an area northeast of Edmonton known as Upgrader Alley.

People in Sturgeon County are intervening in provincial hearings to review the $14-billion Petro-Canada (TSX:PCA) upgrader project.

Anne Brown and Maureen Chichak both know several people in the area who have cancer, including two farmers who both died of lung cancer even though neither man smoked.

The women say they fear the already tainted air in their rural community will become even worse with more upgraders.

Petro-Canada spokesman Peter Symons says the hearings will allow all stakeholder concerns to be heard and the plant will be built with the best available emissions technology.

Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach has already said there will be a cap placed on total emissions in the industrial heartland region.

Pinch Points in the tar sands

Oil-Sands Projects Slowed by Scrutiny, Group Says (Update1)

By Ian McKinnon

June 18 (Bloomberg) — Labor shortages and increased regulatory scrutiny are slowing development of Alberta’s oil sands, home to the largest reserves outside the Middle East, Canada’s largest producer group said.

The country’s daily production is estimated to reach about 4.47 million barrels a day by 2020, or 5.7 percent below last year’s estimate, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said today in a statement. The Calgary-based group predicted 4.74 million barrels in 2007.

Questions about Alberta oil-sands royalties and federal rules on capturing carbon dioxide, a gas linked to global warming, are also lengthening schedules, Greg Stringham, a vice president at the lobby group, said today in Calgary.

Project sponsors “are making the $1 billion decisions, they just need a little more certainty to make the $10 billion decisions,” Stringham told reporters at an energy conference. “The ultimate potential for the oil sands remains unchanged, it just means we’re going to take longer to get there.”