Reality Check: Water and the Tar Sands

[polly7]

Big Oil is spending millions of dollars to try to greenwash the tar sands, Canada’s fastest growing source of greenhouse gas pollution. A new report, Reality Check: Water and the Tar Sands, sets the record straight on industry claims that misrepresent the tar sands industry’s use of the Athabasca River.

The report counters claims by industry and industry-affiliated groups about the use of freshwater from the Athabasca River, the toxicity of tailings, the amount of tailings leaking into the watershed, and the willingness of industry to monitor water-related impacts of development.

Tar sands companies used approximately 170 million cubic metres of water in 2011 to extract bitumen – that’s the same as the residential water usage of 1.7 million Canadians. And 95 per cent of the water used in tar sands mining is so polluted it has to be stored in toxic sludge pits. The tailings lakes are so big they can be seen from space.

This is the first in a series of six reports that will counter Big Oil’s claims that the tar sands’ impacts are under control. The reports offer a reality check about the failure of the oil and gas industry to live up to its promises to prevent irreversible damage to our water, our air, our communities and our wildlife. It’s time to look past Big Oil’s slick PR, and focus on the truth about the tar sands. It’s time to stand up and demand the clean, safe and renewable energy future we deserve.

http://www.tarsandsrealitycheck.com/

http://environmentaldefence.ca/sites/default/files/report_files/WaterandTarSandsReport_FINAL.pdf

[arthritisR_US]

1. Living in Alberta, all I can say is that this reality

will never permeate their thick heads but I sure as hell wish it would! These people are bought and paid for by big oil. 30 years of Conservative rule here, they should be called the Slick Oil Party

[polly7]

2. I know, and I feel for you.

I have family in Edmonton and Sylvan Lake ..... when I mention the damage from the tar sands and the legitimacy of protests by indigenous groups, they look at me like I have two heads. I realize that millions of people there have livelihoods at stake, tied directly or indirectly, to the tar sands, but surely they can see there have got to be huge improvements made and that in the end, they'll be some of the first to suffer. I read years ago that one day of fresh water usage to extract that crap oil would sustain all of the city of Calgary for a day. Not a peep about it, other than a few well hidden and forgotten headlines. We need change ...... now.



Chomsky is right, here:

But indigenous peoples in Canada blocking fossil fuel developments are taking the lead in combatting climate change, he said. Chomsky highlighted indigenous opposition to the Alberta tar sands, the oil deposit that is Canada's fastest growing source of carbon emissions and is slated for massive expansion despite attracting international criticism and protest.

"It is pretty ironic that the so-called 'least advanced' people are the ones taking the lead in trying to protect all of us, while the richest and most powerful among us are the ones who are trying to drive the society to destruction," said Chomsky.

Chomsky expressed concern about an indigenous community in New Brunswick whose encampment blockading shale gas exploration was raided by a heavily armed Canadian police force two weeks ago.

Those protests come on the heels of the indigenous-led Idle No More movement that sprang up in late 2012 in response to the Harper government's repeal of numerous environmental protections and aggressive promotion of resource projects, often on indigenous lands

http://www.alternet.org/environment/chomsky-attacks-rush-destroy-environment-fast-possible-fracking-and-tar-sands?akid=11104.44541.UzFhMy&rd=1&src=newsletter918685&t=11

[arthritisR_US]

3. I live in Calgary and during the flooding we were

all put on a water restriction, which was fine by me. My neighbour, who works for Encana, out of curiosity I asked her in week 2 of it all how the restrictions were impacting Encana's fracking operations? "Well, not at all...it doesn't apply to them"

[polly7]

4. Wow. That figures.

Everything is completely backward when it comes to the precious oil! I wish it would all dry up instantly, actually. No more environmental damage, no wars to fight for it, we'd have to actually use our brains to develop alternate means that have been in the work for decades but stymied by big oil .... drastic, but it's the only way I can think of to fix it all. No government on earth at the moment will do anything meaningful while their coffers are being filled by fuckers like the Koch Bros. and the rest of the Big Oil players, it's too lucrative for them.

[arthritisR_US]

5. Their greed is the only thing that gets serviced and

feck the rest. Like you, I see change coming about when catastrophic events force them and it's too fecking late. How can we import the environmental mindset the the German's have? Surly they have the Slick Industry too, so how did those blokes win?

[polly7]

6. A good question, athritisR_US.

We need world leaders ......... well, scratch that, because we know they won't do anything, maybe environmentalists from all over the world to lock themselves into a room for a week and come up with a plan that when handed to their respective gov'ts and published in every paper and media outlet, will force elections based on people having the knowledge of what we're all facing. But, I'm a dreamer .... and between corrupt politicians and nutso religious leaders, what are the chances.

I had read this before, it's an interesting article: Going Green: Why Germany Has the Inside Track to Lead a New Industrial Revolution - http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/going-green-why-germany-has-the-inside-track-to-lead-a-new-industrial-revolution/

In 2008, even as Americans argue over whether renewable energy is a fantasy, Germany generated 14.2% of its electrical power from renewable resources. Already a leading player in so-called clean technology — the mix of environmentally benign power generation and environmentally friendly technologies — Germany may become the epicenter of the world’s next industrial revolution: the triumph of clean, cheap, sustainable electricity.

This article looks at how the German government and individuals helped such companies as Enercon, the world’s third-largest producer of wind generators, and Q-Cells, the world’s largest producer of photovoltaic cells, reach their present position, and what their gains might mean for the country and the world.