tar sands

[Boom Boom]

The Canadian Oil Sand Mines Refused Us Access, So We Rented This Plane To See What They Were Doing
 
(long webpage with photos - awesome)
 
 
ETA: a friend who lives less than 250 km south of the tar sands says the sky is quite often hazy, and they get acid rain.
 

 

[greenvie]

Thanks for this Boom Boom. Remember Koyaanisqatsi? Something about the scale of the numerous photos reminds me of that film. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koyaanisqatsi In the Hopi language, the word Koyaanisqatsi means "unbalanced life".

Also want to thank you for the heads up on the film Catastroika. I've downloaded it & watched the beginning. Looks excellent, hope it airs on CBC Docs. it's free, after all, so they have no excuse.

Sent both of these to my daughter in Seattle, who will no doubt pass it on to her circles.

[Boom Boom]

Question: if the NDP form the next federal government, what will be their policy with regard to the tar sands? Can they change anything, clean it up, what?

[Berlynn]

Environmental policy plank 2011 election: http://www.ndp.ca/platform/tackle-climate-change

[Holly Stick]

The Canadian Oil Sand Mines Refused Us Access, So We Rented This Plane To See What They Were Doing
 
(long webpage with photos - awesome)
 
 
ETA: a friend who lives less than 250 km south of the tar sands says the sky is quite often hazy, and they get acid rain.

That is impressive. It links to a couple of other stories they have about the oil sands. I don't like their assumption that the oil will all be taken out, though they may be correct. We'll see.

[Boom Boom]

Environmental policy plank 2011 election: http://www.ndp.ca/platform/tackle-climate-change

That's a good link - thanks!

[Berlynn]

You're welcome, BB.  I particularly like Section 4.2

[Antonia]

Nationalize the whole damn thing. Get the foreign money out.

[Berlynn]

Works for me!

[Boom Boom]

Nationalize the whole damn thing. Get the foreign money out.

That's my stance as well, but I always get Trudeau and the NEP thrown back at me.
 
But Harper says the tar sands will benefit all of Canada, so that sounds like a good enough reason to me to nationalize the damn thing.

[Boom Boom]

Mulcair was on CTV's Question Period this morning, will be repeated at 5pm later today.
 
Mulcair was fantastic. He's explaining that the Conservatives are determined to reap huge profits from the tar sands without paying any attention whatsoever to the clean-up that is required afterwards - that's what all this is about.
 
Conservative and Liberal fuckheads are twisting and mis-stating what Mulcair said - of course they are, because they're afraid of the NDP gaining credibility and popularity.
 
 

[sparqui]

[T]he Conservatives are determined to reap huge profits...

Who are the profits for? Certainly not for the average Canadian citizen if these jerks think austerity is required. It should be stressed that the profits will be flowing out of the country just as fast as the bituman.

[Boom Boom]

Yes, profits from the tar sands go out of the country, but Alberta gets a percentage (royalty) from every barrel of oil produced, and Canada gets a share too that contributes to equalization. The issue is whether enough of a royalty is being paid.
 
Plus, oil companies are getting off scott-free by not being forced to clean up their bloody mess. That's why the tar sands are not sustainable economically - future generations will be left with the clean-up bill. If the oil companies had to re-invest into cleaning up their bloody mess, their profits would not be so huge.

[Toedancer]

All the mis-stating and Dutch Disease certainly gets the Cons contempt for democracy off the headlines.

[Boom Boom]

Mulcair prepares for the long battle on oilsands