shutterstock_14976709.jpg Warren Buffett, the third wealthiest man on the planet (net worth: $44 billion), often referred to as the "Oracle of Omaha," is the target of a May 5 action called for by Stop Coal B.C. Well, not Buffett directly, but a rail company he owns through his massive holding company, Berkshire
Continue readingTag: oil sands
DeSmogBlog: Comparing Territories: Tar Sands Blanket Caribou Habitat
Picture 3.png As the controversy surrounding Canada’s proposed wolf cull in Alberta grows, the provincial government is attempting to limit criticism directed at the country’s polluting Tar Sands – the prime driver behind the region’s rapid decline in caribou populations. Alberta’s Ministry of Sustainable Resource Development (SRD) is the government
Continue readingPolitics Canada: Northern Gateway pipeline gets the advanced green light
Natural Resources minister Joe Oliver announced the ‘streamlining’ of the federal environmental assessment process. What was not mentioned in the press release or by the minister was that final approval can now be given by the federal cabinet i.e. Harper himself even if it the board deems a project too
Continue readingbastard.logic: On That Zombie Suzuki Resignation Story
The Globe: Canada’s most famous environmentalist, David Suzuki, says he left the board of his charitable foundation to avoid being a lightning rod for criticism and government attacks that would undermine its work. Still, Peter Robinson, who is the head of the David Suzuki Foundation, said the group is facing
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Investors: No More Flaring of Fracked Oil and Gas in Bakken Shale
exxon-gas-flaring-photo01.jpg The debate over flaring unconventional oil and gas in shale basins across the United States has suddenly heated up immensely (excuse the bad pun). On March 27, the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economy (CERES) penned a letter calling for an end to the practice, writing, We are a group of 37
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: On Ezra Levant’s Victimhood
I have been blogging for nearly four months now, and am embarrassed to admit that — contrary to firmly established best blogging practices — I have yet to engage in the art of personal attack. Today, I intend to correct this error and make the anonymous overlords of the blogarchy
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Obama Sojourns to "Pipeline Crossroads of the World" for Campaign Speech
Cushing .jpg It's the multi-pronged fight that never seems to end. The Alberta Tar Sands have been near the forefront of the North American energy and climate debate, thanks in large part to growing public concern and grassroots efforts like Tar Sands Action, a campaign led by climate activists to block construction of the
Continue reading350 or bust: Ethical Oil: The Puppet Rap
This Saturday gem comes from creative folks over at The Tyee: Why is everybody all bitchin’ bout the bitumen? Don’t you like rich men turnin’ into richer men? Solomon, whose agenda you followin? Typical liberal lamestream politics! Crackdown in Iran? Those Ayatollahs should park it! Monks burnin’ in Sichuan? well
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Tar Sands, Tories and Ethical Oil – an interview with Shelley Glover, MP
St. Boniface MP Shelley Glover recently lectured Winnipeg broadcaster Michael Welch of CKUW-FM 95.9 on the virtues of “ethical oil” and the “balanced” approach of the Conservative government to energy development that has obtained the “support” of aboriginal people for tar sands development and the Enbridge Pipeline Proposal. Michael checked
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Video Report: Tar Sands, Pipelines & Tankers
The National Energy Board is conducting hearings on Enbridge’s proposal for a pipeline from Alberta’s tar sands to the town of Kitimat in the heart of BC’s Great Bear Rainforest. If approved, over 200 oil tankers would be navigating the difficult waters off BC’s Northwest Coast each year, making widespread
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Andrew Weaver on the Tar Sands
Last week, world-renowned University of Victoria climate scientist Andrew Weaver, lead author of several IPCC reports, shocked friends and enemies alike by publishing an article in Nature Climate Change in which he makes an unexpected claim. He and co-author Neil Swart (a UVIC PhD student) find that Alberta’s Athabasca tar
Continue readingCanada’s latest threat in an already long line of hostilities: trade war with the EU
(Found this on Google but no attribution. Looks like Montreal Simon’s work, though.) Harper has served notice on seniors, potheads, the youth, internet users, the environment, scientists and just about every other group not profitable to his party. Now, he’s threatened to go to war with the EU over nomenclature.
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Unethical Oil: Why Is Canada Killing Wolves and Muzzling Scientists To Protect Tar Sands Interests?
shutterstock_71225605.jpg In the latest and perhaps most astonishing display of the tar sands industry’s attacks on science and our democracy, the government of Alberta has made plans to initiate a large-scale wolf slaughter to provide cover for the destruction wrought by the industrialization of the boreal forest ecosystem. In the coming
Continue readingArt Threat: Paint it or rape it: would the Group of Seven condone the tar sands?
Lawren Harris, Lake Superior Sketch XLV (collection: A.K. Prakash) Rather like waiting for a London bus, you wait some time for a decent exhibition of landscape art and then two come along at once, or, at least, one behind the other. Just opened at the Royal Academy in Piccadilly, London,
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Warren Buffett Exposed: The Oracle of Omaha and the Tar Sands
Warren Buffett Barack Obama.png On January 23, Bloomberg News reported Warren Buffett's Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF), owned by his lucrative holding company Berkshire Hathaway, stands to benefit greatly from President Barack Obama’s recent cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline. If built, TransCanada's Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline would carry tar sands crude, or
Continue reading350 or bust: Gerald Amos Of Haisla First Nation To Stephen Harper and Joe Oliver: No Apology Forthcoming
This letter is reprinted from the Terrace Daily, where it was first published on January 8th, and then republished last week: Recently there has been a lot of criticism by supporters of the tar sands, and oil industry front groups, of Canadian non-profit organizations who have concerns regarding the proposed
Continue readingOccupy Ottawa: A Whistleblower’s Open Letter to the Citizens of Canada
Prime Minister’s Office Tries to Silence Pipeline Critics; Labels Environmental Group “Enemy of the Government of Canada” and “Enemy of the people of Canada.” My name is Andrew Frank. I grew up in a small …Read More
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Demise of Keystone XL Means More Bakken Shale Gas Flaring
NA-Pipeline-Map-Theodora.png Damned if we do, damned if we don't – this is the CliffsNotes version of the ongoing Keystone XL pipeline debate. President Barack Obama recently halted TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline project, which would bring tar sands crude, or dilluted bitumen ("dilbit") from Alberta, B.C. through the heart of the U.S., to
Continue reading350 or bust: The Myth of Keystone Jobs Must Give Way To Real Job Opportunities For Canadians & Americans
Press Release from Citizens Climate Lobby Canada in response to President Obama’s decision yesterday on the Keystone XL Pipeline: President Obama made the right decision in rejecting approval for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. The constraints imposed by Congress gave insufficient time for a thorough, unbiased review of the pipeline’s
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Oil Pimp and the Dalai Lama
He’s always been an oil pimp, but I thought I better give him a new costume eh? Because these days that’s ALL he ever talks about. “When you look at the Iranians threatening to block the Strait of Hormuz, I think that just illustrates how critical it is that supply
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