Alberta oilsands projects: Canada's Hiroshima

[unhappycamper]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Alberta-oilsands-projects-by-Eric-Walberg-Chevron_Conservative_Energy_Fracking-140117-320.html



Alberta oilsands projects: Canada's Hiroshima
OpEdNews Op Eds 1/17/2014 at 18:00:04
By Eric Walberg

Canadian rock legend Neil Young has taken to the road with a mission. Sunday night, he laid down the gauntlet on national TV, calling the Canadian government "completely out of control" as he began his "Honour the Treaties" tour in Toronto. His goal is to help First Nations in their fight against the expanding oilsands projects in Alberta. To the government, "Money is number one. Integrity isn't even on the map."

Honour the Treaties is a series of benefit concerts in Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina and Calgary to raise money to support the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) in their battle against a multi-billion dollar expansion of the oilsands project in northern Alberta. ACFN's 2007 court challenge to Shell's lease at the Jackpine Mine failed in 2011, but is being appealing to the Supreme Court of Canada.

"The oil sands projects are among the very dirtiest on earth," said a defiant Young. Just to extract and process the toxic sludge each day "produces as much CO2 as all the cars in Canada", three times as much as more efficient methods. "This oil is going not to Canada, but to China where the air quality has been measured at 30 times the levels of safety established by the World Health Organization. Is that what Canada is all about?"

This is bad PR for the scandal-plagued Conservatives. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office immediately issued a statement insisting that Canada's environmental laws are "rigorous", and piously vowed to "ensure that companies abide by conditions set by independent, scientific and expert panels." The statement snidely accused Young of hypocrisy: "Even the lifestyle of a rock star relies on the resources developed by thousands of hard-working Canadians every day."

[kristopher]

1. Funny you should put it that way...

Canada Considering Nuclear Reactors in Alberta Tar Sands Fields
By John Daly | Mon, 21 January 2013 22:42

....

Lying under 54,000 square miles of forest and bogs, the bitumen tar sands are estimated to be comparable in magnitude to the world's total proven reserves of conventional petroleum.

...

Oil sands pollution is not a topic that Ottawa is keen to publicize. In 2009 the Canadian government acknowledged that it deliberately had excluded data indicating a 20 percent increase in annual pollution from Canada’s oil sands industry from a 567-page report on climate change that it was required to submit to the United Nations.

... Alberta’s oil sands have been found to be one of the major causes of air pollution in Canada, as Tar sands facilities were found to be among the top four highest polluters of volatile organic compounds, a major air contaminant, along with acid rain.

That pollution rap sheet could soon include nuclear, as Toshiba is developing “mini” nuclear reactors to be used to mine Canadian oil sands, with an initial deployment projected by 2020.

Why nuclear power? It is estimated that approximately 90 percent of the Alberta oil sands are too far below the surface to use open-pit mining. Making liquid fuels from oil sands requires energy for steam injection and refining. Mining oil sands is water intensive; drilling one well consumes 5.5 acre-feet of water each year, and the production of one gallon of oil requires thirty-five gallons of water...

More at: http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/Canada-Considering-Nuclear-Reactors-in-Alberta-Tar-Sands-Fields.html