Tar Sands

02/09/23
Author: 
John Woodside
Premier Danielle Smith answers questions during Calgary Economic Development’s Report to the Community event at the Telus Convention Centre on Tuesday, April 18, 2023. Photo by Chris Schwarz/Government of Alberta

Sept.1, 2023

"One of the biggest stories in the country right now is the blowback Ottawa is getting from the provinces over policies with high public support (like oil and gas emissions cap). Fossil fuel captured provinces are at war over climate policy."  John Woodside - Twitter

28/08/23
Author: 
Patrick DeRochie
Flames reach upwards along the edge of a wildfire as seen from a Canadian Forces helicopter surveying the area near Mistissini, Quebec, Canada June 12, 2023. CANADIAN FORCES VIA REUTERS

Aug. 27, 2023

As Canada experiences a record-shattering summer of deadly extreme weather, it’s worth remembering that our national pension fund has poured much of our retirement savings into the primary cause of the climate crisis: fossil fuels.

In doing so, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is also undermining its own purpose: to provide Canadians with retirement security by achieving a maximum rate of return without undue risk of loss. Fossil fuel industries, after all, must be rapidly phased out to ensure a safe climate future.

02/08/23
Author: 
Markham Hislop
Petroleum can be used for super strong and light carbon fibre, a material key to technologies we’ll need in a low-emissions economy. Photo via Shutterstock.

Jul. 31, 2023

A Better Use for Alberta’s Oil and Gas - Look to the future. Commit the province’s petroleum to making materials for a post-combustion economy?

[Tyee Editor’s note: This piece is drawn from a recently published version on Markham Hislop’s site Energi Media.]

19/07/23
Author: 
John Woodside
Artwork by Ata Ojani / Canada's National Observer

Jul 19, 2023

For decades, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) has represented Big Oil’s interests, wielding a multimillion-dollar budget to set up astroturf campaigns to defend fossil fuels, deploy scores of lobbyists to shape government policy and attack critics. But in recent years, the oilsands majors appear to have become apprehensive about the industry lobby group and are going their own way.

09/07/23
Author: 
Carl Meyer
Documents show that as early as December 2021, oil companies in the Pathways Alliance, such as Suncor which operates this open pit oilsands mine near Fort McMurray, Alta., were lobbying the government to consider “flexible and cost-effective” rules for its emissions cap. Photo: Amber Bracken / The Narwhal

July 5, 2023

Through the Pathways Alliance, an organization of some of Canada’s largest oil producers, high-level bureaucrats were asked for long lead times and a ‘flexible, non-regulatory approach’ to usher in a limit on the sector’s air pollution

The Pathways Alliance plastered Toronto streetcars and Vancouver billboards with optimistic messages about its plan to slash pollution and help Canada meet its climate goals. Behind the scenes, the coalition of fossil fuel producers struck a different tone.

09/07/23
Author: 
Arno Kopecky

June 30, 2023

Renewable energy has achieved critical mass, but the oil and gas industry has us staying a dangerous course amid climate change

Humanity is on the verge of two drastically different futures: one hopeful, one disastrous. 

03/07/23
Author: 
Primary Author: Mitchell Beer
 Pumpjack - Sanjay Acharya/WikimediaCommons

Attached below this article is a table of how soon the known global reserves of a number of key minerals/elements will be completely depleted at the current rate of exploitation. 

June 27, 2023

The Canadian government must take the lead in protecting Canadians from an inevitable “terminal decline” of the global oil and gas sector, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) concludes in a detailed analysis released yesterday.

13/06/23
Author: 
John Feffer
Teaser photo credit: UK child’s ration book in WW2. Public Domain.

An interesting description of an international, post-capitalist energy distribution system--which fails to address how capitalism might be eliminated. 

                       -- Gene McGuckin

May 23, 2023

05/06/23
Author: 
Andrew Nikiforuk
This five-million-litre toxic waste spill at Imperial Oil’s Kearl Lake oilsands mine in northern Alberta roused outcry. But it came after years of undercutting efforts to regulate tailing pond pollution. Photo by Nick Vardy/Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation.

June 5, 2023

Pollution protections are stripped while Canada boasts progress. This is the history of promises made and betrayed.

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