Oil Sands

Exxon And Oil Sands Go On Trial In New York Climate Fraud Case

October 22, 2019 Nicholas Kusnetz, Insideclimatenews.org Resist! Climate Change, Exxon, Fraud, Oil Sands

NEW YORK, New York — In late 2013, ExxonMobil faced increasing pressure from investors to disclose more about the risks the company faced as governments began limiting greenhouse gas emissions. Of the many costs climate change will impose, oil companies face a particularly acute one: the demand for their product will have to shrink. For years, Exxon had been using something called a proxy cost of carbon to estimate what stricter climate policies might mean for its bottom line.

New Oilsands Report Claims All Is Well

October 13, 2014 Darcy Henton, www.calgaryherald.com Educate! Canada, Energy, Environment, Oil Sands

EDMONTON — Two days after the auditor general criticized a report on oilsands environmental monitoring as inaccurate and misleading, a followup report has been released claiming all is well. In his October audit, Merwan Saher slammed the initial oilsands report for being 15 months late and missing “key information.” He also found management of the monitoring program projects to be “weak,” lacking detailed work plans, timelines, progress reports and reviews. But the second annual report of the Canada-Alberta Joint Oilsands Monitoring program says the Alberta government “made notable progress in creating conditions for achieving commitments made under the joint implementation plan.”

Study Finds Unusual Contamination In Animals Near Oilsands

July 10, 2014 Marty Klinkenberg, www.edmontonjournal.com Educate! Animals, Environment, Oil Sands, pollution, Science

Scientists at the University of Manitoba say they have linked pollution in the oilsands to elevated cancer rates in Fort Chipewyan for the first time. The impact on health in communities downwind of development is “clear and worrisome,” researcher Stephane McLachlan told a news conference Monday in Edmonton. “Something unique is happening in Fort Chipewyan, especially around cancer.” Conducted in collaboration with the Athabasca Chipewyan and Mikisew Cree First Nations, the study found fish and animals consumed as part of a traditional diet contained unusually high concentrations of contaminants emitted during the extraction and upgrading of bitumen. Twenty-three cases of cancer were reported among 94 people interviewed as part of the three-year, $1-million study, which was partially paid for by Health Canada and peer-reviewed by its scientists.

First Nations Say Oilsands Expansion ‘Environmental Horror Story’

June 9, 2014 Les Whittington, www.firstperspective.ca Educate! Environment, First Nations, Indigenous Rights, Oil Sands

They call themselves “the people of the land of the willow” and have survived for thousands of years hunting, fishing and trapping along the Athabasca River in northern Alberta. But today the 1,200 members of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) are caught up in one of the largest industrial developments on the face of the planet — the expansion of the sprawling, land-devouring oilsands operations intended to produce 5.2 million barrels of oil a day by 2030. The oilsands boom is seen by petroleum companies and the Harper government as essential to Canada’s future economic strength. But to the ACFN, it means something entirely different: Troubling cancer rates, contamination of vital waterways and damage to their homeland, livelihood and culture. “Canada has become a playground for oil and gas companies and my peoples’ traditional territory is what’s being sold,” ACFN spokesperson Eriel Deranger says. “Our entire area is going to be annihilated by this type of developmsent.” The ACFN’s conflict with oilsands developers has attracted international attention and emerged as a symbol of the struggle over Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s much-disputed approach to exploiting Canada’s energy riches.

Daily movement news and resources