Tar Sands

17/04/24
Author: 
Chris Russill, Patrick McCurdy & Jenny Kliever
We need to get to the bottom of fossil fuel greenwashing people encounter when conducting searches on Google. Photo by fotdmike/Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED)

Apr, 12, 2024

When we are confused about carbon taxes or other climate policies, we often turn to Google for help. Some of us Google Search for information on “climate payment” or “climate action incentive payment” or "carbon tax rebate." Others seek government sources by searching “Environment and Climate Change Canada” or “net zero.” A few use special operators for searches, like “filetype:pdf climate change,” to filter for climate reports in PDF format.

11/04/24
Author: 
Steve Lorteau
The federal government has spent $35 billion on the Trans Mountain pipeline alone. Photo via Trans Mountain.

Apr. 11, 2024

Worried about Taxpayer Dollars? Focus on Fossil Fuel Subsidies.  They cost Canadians a lot more money than the carbon tax.

The federal carbon tax increase is now in effect, and will raise gas prices by three cents per litre in most Canadian provinces.

13/03/24
Author: 
John Woodside
eputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland takes questions from reporters before tabling Budget 2023 on March 28 at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa. Photo by Natasha Bulowski

Mar. 13, 2024

A majority of Canadians want Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to implement a windfall tax on oil and gas companies’ profits, according to a new poll.

The findings from Leger come approximately one month before the federal government unveils its next budget. Before the budget is unveiled, environmental advocacy groups are urging Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to respond to public support by taxing the record profits of the fossil fuel sector.

19/02/24
Author: 
Andrew Nikiforuk
St. Mary Reservoir, near Lethbridge, just 11 per cent full. Climate change is only part of the reason Alberta is reeling for lack of water. Photo via Alberta government.

Feb. 19, 2024

Scientists who studied the region’s arid past warned this drought was coming. Thirst for growth won out. A Tyee special report.

11/02/24
Author: 
Dave Rollo,
 Fracking has left its mark. (Flickr)

Feb.7. 2024

Warn anyone in the USA about the coming energy crisis and you’re likely to see eyes roll. “What energy crisis? That was half a century ago! Markets and technology won. Today we’re back among the top oil suppliers!”

All true, but the response gives a false sense of security that has policymakers and publics sleepwalking toward a cliff. An energy crisis is likely ahead, no matter our rank (currently third) among oil supplying nations. Seeing the coming crisis requires looking beneath the veneer of oil supply claims and asking some deeper questions.

11/02/24
Author: 
Andrew Nikiforuk
‘Canada faces daunting challenges in meeting its net-zero commitments,’ writes David Hughes. ‘These are not insurmountable but must be clearly understood and faced head-on.’ Photo by Adrian Wyld, the Canadian Press.

Feb. 8, 2024

A leading energy analyst crunches and questions the numbers that national goals are built upon.

Canada’s road to net zero by 2050 will be bumpy, winding and “daunting.”

02/02/24
Author: 
John Woodside
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland responds to a question during a news conference in Ottawa on Jan. 29, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Feb. 2, 2024

A pair of new analyses from the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) finds the federal government intends to provide over $11 billion to companies investing in carbon capture and hydrogen technologies.

01/02/24
Author: 
Bob Weber
Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz says negotiations between water licence holders in three southern Alberta river basins will open this week. Schulz shakes hands with Premier Danielle Smith in Edmonton on Oct. 24, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Jan. 31, 2024

Drought-weary Alberta opens water-sharing talks with large users

EDMONTON — Lance Colby saw what was coming.

The Alberta government said Wednesday it would open talks on water-sharing between large users as the province's drought situation worsens. But Colby, chair of the Mountain View Regional Water Services Commission in central Alberta, had already begun such discussions.

26/01/24
Author: 
Benjamin Shingler
A study conducted in 2018 used aircraft to collect air samples around 17 oilsands facilities in northern Alberta. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press)

Jan. 25, 2024

Data collected by air finds levels of harmful pollutants can be more than 60 times higher than estimated

Alberta's oilsands operations produce far more potentially harmful air pollutants than are officially reported, with the daily output on par with those from gridlocked megacities like Los Angeles, new research suggests.

20/01/24
Author: 
Linda McQuaig
Carbon Engineering's plant in Squamish, B.C. is part of growing carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) industry.  Hannah.Griffin

Jan. 11, 2024

Seeing carbon capture and storage as “a way to compensate for ongoing fossil fuel burning is economically illiterate,” concludes an Oxford University study.

One can only imagine the positive buzz these days inside the boardrooms of Canada’s oil companies, as they rake in record profits and plan major expansions of their oil production.

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Tar Sands