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Oil sands protest | Image from Twitter, posted by @NobelWomen
Canada’s oil sand were the subject of 130 separate protests across Canada this weekend.
Operating under the umbrella group Defend Our Climate, protesters rallied from coast to coast, with the largest group gathering in Vancouver, according to the Globe and Mail.
Vancouve demonstrators are opposing Enbridge’s plans to build the Northern Gateway pipeline – which would help get Alberta crude to Asian markets.
“It’s a disaster,” one protester told the Vancouver Sun. “The government seems to be intent on going ahead, with no brakes on the process, in developing energy projects like the Enbridge pipeline, without any concerns for the environmental effects.”
Calgary’s Enbridge – the country’s biggest energy transportation company – is also under fire for its proposed Line 9B pipeline reversal in eastern Canada.
Protesters oppose oil sands development over fears that it would damage the environment and impede on Aboriginal land use rights. One rally participant told the Globe and Mail that there is “no safe way” of developing the sands.
In Alberta, protesters showed their opposition by building a wall of 116 oil barrels in front of the legislature building.
5 Comments
Robert Clarke
useful idiots…
JoeNormal
Amazing what OPEC, Rockefeller and Soros money will buy, ain’t it?
A.C
The thing I really don’t understand is why Alberta people got just a 10-15% of the value of the oïl extract from the oïl sands. Where the rest of the profit goes ?
Did the cost of environmental restoration are included in the 15% ? Did the oïl of the tar sand could be extract in a better technological way ? Did we found a way to decontaminate the big pounds of polluted water and residues ?
Badly the exploitation of oïl sands don’t profit really to canadians and for provinces like B.C and Québec ndoes land are jus a place to built pipelines and why ? Because they can’t built the one they want to go to US.
Steven Davidson
Most of the oil is not refined in Alberta or Canada for that matter. Thus most of the actual profit goes where the refined product is sold. I agree that the environment needs to be taken care of and that more of the proceeds should be coming back to Canada, and Alberta specifically. Nevertheless, oil is necessary for civilization to function. There is no ready alternative. It is naïve to say that we can just shut things down and work on solar, wind etc. The technology does not exist to replace oil right now. We definitely should be working to that end, but at best case we are 25 years from being able to say that we have a real alternative to oil, for fuel, for lubricants, and for plastics. Sure there are technically alternatives available but no enough to satisfy the demand of the world that is growing.
It’s not perfect, but think of the alternatives:
Oil from regions around the world where human costs are even higher. Coal that even when burned clean is not very clean. Nuclear that really has not dealt with the melt down problem very well. Solar, wind, tidal, hydro and other ‘green’ technologies (that are by the way made with a great deal of oil products and energy) that currently can only assume 5% of energy needs let alone the commercial products.
As well, Quebec and BC profit greatly from oil sands production in the form of manufacturing, income tax for transient workers in the oil sands region, and yes even pipelines. The pipelines within Canada should be built and the refining should be done in Canada.
Development of new, better and more commercially viable ways to supplant oil as the primary compound in fueling vehicles and making plastics should be the top source of the revenue dollars from oil.
Otherwise once the oil is gone we will have nothing but memories.
P.S. Environmental Reclamation comes from the top line, not the bottom line of the new oil sand projects. That means the cost is built in before the profit is measured. As well, many of the new projects disturb very little of the ground level ecosystem.
goordo
Do you guys want to stop the pipeline or make sure its environmentally safe?
It seem like for some, no matter what the pipeline or tar sands co’s do you would deem it bad and therefore close it all down.
Why not go for the good for both the environment and the economy. We’ve done it lots in the last few years, changing bad environmental areas into good clean places with work for everyone.
If the industry is viable and the government imposes the proper fines and regulations we can have both. But we also will have to pay!!! Or act noble shut down our oil production and fill our cars with oil from Africa and let there people suffer. I am Canadian and would freeze in the winter if not for our energy, I also would pay more for that privilege if I had a good paying job.