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A website for spreading awareness of TAR SANDS and their importance to the environment (to stay in the ground!)

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"TAR SANDS" here on this website mainly refers to the extensive tar sands of Alberta Canada. However, tar sands also occur widespread elsewhere in the world (e.g. in Venezuala's Orinoco Belt, Madagascar, Congo) and are also under potential threat of exploitation. They comprise a  bitumen-sand-clay-water-mixture from which can be extracted, with high energy costs and high carbon emissions, an unconventional oil often called a "dirty oil". Other unconventional oils with high extraction costs include e.g. shale oil from oil shale (e.g. USA, Russia, Serbia etc...).

   
There is increasing interest in exploiting such dirty oil reserves due to the start of a decline in production rates from depleting conventional sources. Increasing world demand from emerging economies such as China can potentially push up oil prices* and make such costly extraction methods economically just-about viable - but only if the massive negative externalities can be kept out of the equation. Thus continued capture of governments by oil interests is required to block regulations designed to prevent such 'market failure'. The long-term negative consequences for the planet and its people and wildlife far outweigh the financial benefits to the world's wealthy minority. Clearly, though we need a certain amount of oil, we should be reducing our oil dependence and oil consumption and instead shifting towards low or zero carbon alternatives. [*2014 update: oversupply of US shale oil & lowered demand from "the West" has resulted in a drop in oil prices to below production costs for tar sands oil]

Read right column first! >>> Guardian photo (via link) of Alberta Tar Sands industry that has replaced former boreal forest. Note proximity to river (re pollution risk). Indigenous First Nations people living downstream suffer an abnormally high rate of otherwise scarce pollution-associated cancers. Contrasting images: photographer Garth Lenz shows beautiful photos of the boreal landscape that is being destroyed in his TED talk.     What's in the pipeline? - Excellent posts on TAR SANDS by OIL CHANGE INTERNATIONAL The Price of Oil Steve Kretzmann (US) and Lorne Stockman (UK) research and write re the tar sands industry in USA and Canada and its efforts to get tar sands oil transported from Alberta to markets elsewhere such as Europe e.g. via pipelines and Mexican Gulf refineries. Andy Rowell also adds a UK perspective. They emphasize that the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is primarily for export of tar sands products abroad - such as to the UK and EU. Valero - which owns big refinery on the Texas Gulf Coast - in August 2011 bought Pembroke refinery in the UK and the Texaco-branded outlets here, with the plan to refine tar sands bitumen from KXL then to ship it here. Also they've brought out great reports eg on petcoke. UK TAR SANDS NETWORK have vg briefing pdf's on a variety of tar sands topics accessible via their resources web-page, e.g. re "dirty diplomacy" between Canada Big Oil and UK, Valero's plans to bring tar sands fuel to UK and Europe, Shell and its huge expansion plans in the Alberta tar sands, its Arctic risks, its destruction in Nigeria etc., BP, RBS, TOTAL, CETA &FQD, tar sands around the world... [Also: TAR SANDS WORLD] Other useful sites: DIRTY OIL SANDS for info in America. UK (esp students): People & Planet on tar sands --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FQD continued from foot of column to right:   Next vote: likely to be late 2013 - possibly December(?? - I'm uncertain)  - if so - may possibly be at around same time as (hopefully before) Obama's decision (if he ever makes it!) whether to allow building of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline (middle section). (In the meantime a study of the likely impact of the FQD Article 7a proposals on the oil industry is being undertaken for the EU, and more complex assessments of the GHG intensities of the many different types of oil/fuel 'feedstock' are being investigated and calculated by Brandt for California's equivalent of the FQD.) Early day motion 240 - TAR SANDS AND THE FUEL QUALITY DIRECTIVE - UK Parliament Date tabled: 12jun13    Our MP Tim Farron signed up - Thanks Tim! Primary sponsor: Lucas, Caroline.  Sponsors: Horwood, Martin Ritchie, Margaret Caton, Martin Durkan, Mark Hancock, Mike Reply by Tim Farron MP to emails by his constituents Henry Adams and Gwen Harrison re: EDM 240: TAR SANDS AND THE FUEL QUALITY DIRECTIVE - pdf ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The threat to climate legislation etc by Free Trade Agreements CETA - the FTA (Free Trade Agreement) being negotiated between the EU and Canada is a potential "Trojan horse" as its investor-state dispute arbitration clause can easily give corporations an undemocratic legal right to sue a state if its free-trade profits are limited by e.g. environmental restrictions - including legislation - and the FQD might suffer. Canada has already threatened the EU with taking up the FQD with the WTO if its free trade of tar sands products are reduced by the FQD. I was not reassured by a letter from a BIS Minister in response to my emailed concern. The FTA being negotiated between USA and EU is likely to have the same Trojan Horse problems:  EU-US trade deal to include 'corporate bill of rights'   EurActiv 26sep13 SEQUEL: Our fears that the FQD might become watered down to ineffectiveness if used as a "bargaining chip" by the EU Commission during the TTIP and CETA negotiations became a reality: see my entries for 2014 in my news blog below, and/or try this short ref: CETA: Canadian deal weakened key EU regulation. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update from Alberta (22april15): Melina Laboucan-Massimo, a member of the Lubicon Cree First Nation, provides an excellent 22april15 update here from her first hand experience: 'Awaiting justice Indigenous resistance in the tar sands of Canada'  in openDemocracy.

The tar sands industry aims to double it's production by 2020 and treble it by 2035 - but to make this financially viable it needs pipelines to reach the coast for export to e.g. China and Europe.  Thus we need to keep the Tar Sands industry land-locked to restrict its expansion for exporting world-wide. MAP of pipeline routes. (This motive to export tar sands products is now increasing not just due to lowering of its value where it is held up and accumulating (mid-USA) but also as it now faces growing competition within its present main market - USA - due to increasing oil production from shale in USA. Hard luck PM Harper - USA is no longer dependent on tar sands oil!) PIPELINE THREATS: 1. Below the photo (<<) is 'Shock Doctrine' author Naomi Klein's punchy informative short animation on the need to stop TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL pipeline from accelerating Tar Sands destruction and emissions. 2. And here is a c.1 minute video showing wildlife and habitats under threat if Enbridge's Northern Gateway tar sands pipeline is built to connect Westwards towards the Pacific (for export of bitumen to China etc). RBS is underwriting this with our money! Map showing pipeline routes. (Also MAP & MAP). There is also a plan ("Energy East") to connect the tar sands by pipeline Eastwards to the Atlantic - to enable its dirty products to get to Europe. 2013 & 2014: we are still awaiting Obama (& Kerry)'s big decision as to whether to allow building of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline (middle section), which - if completed - will connect the Alberta tar sands to the Texas Gulf Coast refineries, and will not just allow big expansion of tar sands production, but will be a signal of 'business as usual' to the oil industry, to disregard climate impacts. Keystone XL would have a "massive impact on carbon pollution":  ‘FAIL: HOW THE KEYSTONE XL TAR SANDS PIPELINE FLUNKS THE CLIMATE TEST’ Authors: Kate Colarulli, Doug Hayes, Courtenay Lewis, Sierra Club & Lorne Stockman, David Turnbull, Oil Change International. c.August 2013. 2014: Obama is still putting off the decision - but he's giving increasing signals of his dislike for the pipeline and its climate (and other) consequences. Carbon bomb or carbon bubble: The proposed tar sands expansion is incompatible with keeping within the 2 degrees C climate change target - it would result in a planned production rate nearer 3 times the target in the IEA model (International Energy Agency) - [put simply: to stay within 2 degrees no more than a third of global fossil fuel reserves can be burnt before 2050]. "Alberta has already approved far more oil sands production than the world will want according to the International Energy Agency (IEA)."  Marc Huot's assessment - Pembina Institute.  - Canada's climate legacy?   [More on carbon bubble - by Carbon Tracker] Thus we need to limit this expansion, and here's one way: EU's Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) - includes important climate change legislation (Article 7a) which urgently needs implementation to restrict future imports of high-emissions fuels such as from tar sands. But parts of the UK government are supporting tar sands investment under pressure from Canada's Harper government and the oil industry (e.g. via The Energy Roundtable) and are delaying (and potentially derailing) implementation of an effective Article 7a (e.g. Euractiv ref. & UKTSN ref below). The FQD's Article 7a obliges transport fuel suppliers to reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions (as 'intensity': gCO2/MJ) from transport fuel by 6% by 2020 (relative to 2010) [7a methodology consultation]. T&E state: "Transport is almost entirely dependent on oil: it emits 31% of the EU’s total CO2 emissions and will become the biggest source of climate-changing emissions soon after 2020. The FQD is a key law to promote cleaner transport fuels and is part of the EU's wider goals to cut carbon emissions by 20 percent by 2020." Prior to a U-turn in 2013/14 the EU Commission had agreed to assigning higher default value intensities to tar sands fuel and other high emissions fuels as compared with fuels from conventional oils (according to a peer-reviewed study by Brandt: 22% or 23% higher for tar sands fuels [107g vs 87.5g, or 107.3 vs 87.1g]). But the tar sands industry and Canada's Harper government have been lobbying hard in objection to this distinction, and persuaded the UK government to echo some of their false or misleading assertions.  As a result of the pro-oil lobbying an effective Article 7a is yet to be agreed to by EU member states for implementation, and UK's DfT are favouring a more complex alternative which might cause more delay (though the EU proposal allows for future improvements when/if implemented). In the meantime the Southern section of the KXL pipeline for getting tar sands products to the Atlantic is being built (though facing much protest). UKTSN summarize this 'Dirty diplomacy: tar sands lobbying and the Fuel Quality Directive'. Transport & Environment explain the Fuel Quality Directive in 'Reducing transport fuel emissions - Implementing the FQD' and also a background overview web-page. They have also produced a 4-page pdf on the FQD. The PEMBINA Institute have also produced a useful pdf on the FQD (22feb12): 'Reducing greenhouse gas emissions through transportation fuel policy - The European Union’s proposed fuel-quality directive and implications for Canadian oilsands producers'. March2012 sequel. Re tar sands emissions - Nov2012. Re the FQD this is well worth reading: (Dec'11 web-page on People and Planet's website) 'NGOs respond to Norman Baker's tar sands claims' (the NGOs being P&P, UKTSN, WDM, and Platform London - with the additional help of Lush Cosmetics.). P&P on tar sands - well worth looking up. Local lobbying of the Libdems to support an urgent effective FQD   Tim Farron - our local MP and LibDem President has expressed to us his disapproval of the tar sands industry and has been continually briefed on tar sands facts and news (eg THIS), including in numerous surgery meetings (with myself, sometimes accompanied by another member of our local climate group SLACC). GOOD NEWS from Tim on 21jun13 (see my news posting below in 'NEWS blog'). Back in 2011 we requested he write an open letter to Norman Baker to try and persuade him to support a UK vote FOR implementing the EU Commissioners' proposals for the Fuel Quality Directive at the EU Member States meeting on the FQD - which will restrict import of very high emissions fuels including from tar sands. Though he did not appear to write his own views (to my knowledge) he did instead write a covering letter forwarding my letter but without expressing his own opinion (such as by endorsing my letter). Please try and persuade him to take up this matter in a stronger way designed to be more effective by for example emailing him tim@timfarron.co.uk or tweeting him @TimFarron. Tim has a good reputation for working hard for his constituents, especially on local issues, though appears somewhat reluctant as yet to take up this particular matter in a higher profile way - though I understand has brought it up with his colleagues. He is very busy on many matters for his constituents - so it would be great if more constituents could support this issue to up its priority. Chris Davies MEP (LibDem, NW England) has written in support of the FQD (eg in LibDem Voice). So too Catherine Bearder MEP in a letter to Norman Baker. But LibDem MPs appear to be comparatively reticent on this. On 20jan12 (still very relevant a year on) I uploaded a pdf of my criticism of Norman Baker's words re the FQD: It comments on DfT Minister Norman Baker's 2dec11 piece on the Fuel Quality Directive in Liberal Democrat Voice. I had emailed this in December 2011 to Tim Farron MP (& copied to Simon Hughes MP). 29jan12 I wrote an article (here in pdf form of 31jan12) giving an update on tar sands and the FQD for the SLACCtt website blog. In Feb2012 OccupyLSX's Energy, Equity and Environment Group demonstrate re the Tar Sands and FQD outside LibDem HQ. Photos here - include printouts of the poster/banner I produced on this website in Spring 2010! NB: On 23rd February 2012 EU member states met to vote on the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD), resulting in stalemate (UK [Norman Baker] abstaining, see below). Darek Urbaniak of FoE Europe summarizes the scenario we are now at re the FQD and the impacts of tar sands industry expansion on the world: 'Tar sands - a threat to Europe, Africa and the world' (2mar12) in Public Service Europe. FQD cont. in column to left

17feb17 Energy Companies Face Crude Reality: Better to Leave It in the Ground - WSJ. E3G ‏@e3g tweet: "More than 17 #oil sands projects, representing about 2.5 million barrels a day of production, cancelled or delayed".

15feb17 CETA passed by a majority of MEPs in plenary session of European Parliament today:
15feb17 Europe Pushes Ahead with Controversial Canadian Trade Deal, Opens Door for Tar Sands – Christine Ottery - DeSmog UK.
Mark Dearn of War on Want, summarizes how Canada lobbied for weakening of climate legislation in the FQD during CETA negotiation period (also logged over the years on the present web-page): Critical vote looms on Canada trade deal which forced tar sands on Europe - War On Want on 11jan17.

24jan17 Trump orders revival of Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines - The Guardian, Resurrection of Keystone and DAPL cements America's climate antagonism - Oliver Milman in NY - The Guardian, How Keystone XL and Dakota Access went from opposition to resurrection - Tom McCarthy, The Guardian.
20jan17 (Friday) Trump inaugurated as US President today. Over subsequent days climate change info removed from US gov websites and scientists to be gagged e.g. 25jan17 sequel re EPA on Reuters: Trump administration tells EPA to cut climate page from website.

20jan17 New Tar Sands Pipelines Are Incompatible With Paris Climate Goals "New research released Thursday reveals disturbing new evidence on how locking-into new long-lived tar sands production undermines global efforts to address the global climate crisis far beyond Canada's borders.
"Trudeau's pipeline decisions will lead directly to suffering, displacement and even death for vulnerable people around the world due to impacts of a warming world," said Saleemul Huq, senior fellow of the International Institute for Environment and Development in Bangladesh. "People who have contributed least to this global crisis will pay the highest price for Canada's efforts to dig up and export more oil in the midst of a global crisis."
The analysis from Oil Change International finds that ...""

19jan17 Climate on the Line: Why New Tar Sands Pipelines Are Incompatible With the Paris Goals - New Report by Oil Change International. Web-page links to pdf of the new report by Adam Scott & Greg Muttitt. "New analysis finds that Canada will be the world’s second highest contributor of new oil production globally over the next twenty years if action isn’t taken to halt new tar sands pipelines and production growth. Once extracted, much of this oil will be burned, pushing global temperature limits over the brink.  Cumulative emissions from producing and burning Canadian oil would use up 16% of the world’s carbon budget to keep temperatures below 1.5 degrees, or 7% of the budget for 2 degrees. Canada has less than 0.5% of the world’s population.  Scientists have found that to have a likely (2 in 3) chance of keeping warming below 2°C, global emissions must be halved within little more than 20 years. To keep warming to 1.5°C, emissions must be halved in about 15 years. New pipelines and tar sands projects are designed to last 40 to 50 years. It’s extremely difficult to shut down projects early, once investments have been made.  There’s no credible pathway to achieving the Paris goals if Canada expands fossil fuel production to the levels that are forecasted."

19jan17 Expanding Tar Sands Will Kill Paris Targets and Climate Stability, Report Finds - Andrew Nikiforuk in The Tyee - "Pipeline approvals ‘make the goals impossible to reach,’ finds Oil Change International", "Canada can’t increase tar sands production or build more pipelines if the world is to achieve the targets on global carbon emissions set by the Paris Agreement on climate. That’s the central conclusion of a new report by Oil Change International (OCI), a U.S. research and advocacy group dedicated to exposing the full costs of fossil fuel extraction.
“There is no scenario in which tar sands production increases and the world achieves the Paris goals,” says the report. ...".

CETA timeline: 12jan17 & 24jan17 - voting by committees of MEPs on environment/food safety etc and on trade respectively, before plenary vote by MEPs on 14mar17.
12jan17 European Lawmakers Vote to Pursue Tar Sands Oil Friendly Trade Deal with Canada - Mat Hope in DeSmog UK. Refers for example to Mark Dearn's article:
11jan17 Ecologist Special Report: Impending vote on the Canada trade deal which forced tar sands on Europe - Mark Dearn of War on Want in The Ecologist.
             See my pdf on CETA references for more info.

22dec16 Trudeau Touts Trump's Support for Keystone XL, Would Bring Exxon's Carbon-Intensive Tar Sands Oil Across the Border - Steve Horn - Ecowatch & Desmogblog. "At a speech given to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he intends to work with President-elect Donald Trump to approve the northern leg of TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline.  The speech comes as Trump revealed in a recent interview with Fox News that one of the first things he intends to do in office is grant permits for both Keystone XL and the perhaps equally controversial Dakota Access pipeline. Because Keystone XL North crosses the U.S.-Canada border, current processes require it to obtain a presidential permit from the U.S.Department of State, which the Obama administration has denied. ..." and Rex Tillerson CEO of ExxonMobil is to be Secretary of State i.e. of the State Department under Trump as President.

Trudeau gives the go-ahead to tar sands pipeline proposals:

30nov16 Tar sand pipelines batter Canada's climate leader tag -  - Climate Home - climate change news.
29nov16 Federal Liberals Approval of Kinder Morgan Is Final Nail in the Coffin of ‘Reconciliation’ - James Wilt - DeSmog Canada. "The federal Liberals have issued an approval for the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline project, subject to 157 conditions. ... And it completely undermines any alleged commitment to “reconciliation” with Indigenous peoples. ..." More on this pipeline.
29nov16 Trudeau Just Sacrificed BC for Big Oil - Judith Sayers - The Tyee

24nov16 Opinion: Trudeau's carbon tsunami by the numbers - National Observer - by Barry Saxifrage who constructs charts to help visualize climate change, carbon, CO2. Thus good charts e.g. 'TRUDEAU'S CO2 SCORECARD'. Barry Saxifrage at VisualCarbon.org and NationalObserver.com

Autumn 2016 2 page pdf: The strong case against separate corporate court systems (ICS/ISDS),  (with links to excellent recent reports) www.bit.ly/ICSISDS
By Henry Adams – Autumn 2016 – especially FAO Tim Farron MP and the LibDems
"We can’t let big US oil and fracking firms have an ICS/ISDS in CETA to undermine climate legislation. ..."

17apr16 RBS ends financing the tar sands RBS pulls back fossil fuel investments as green deals grow - Damian Carrington, The Guardian.

IMPORTANT BAD NEWS:    The US 40 year ban on crude oil exports from the US is being lifted, as a "rider" in part of a multi-issue "deal" between oil-funded Republicans (& ?Democrats in oil states) and Democrats/Obama. And it looks like Obama will sign up to it. As a high % of tar sands bitumen is refined in the US, this news I've been dreading (but sickeningly pushed for by the EU Commission with regards TTIP negotiations).
16dec15 Dirty deal lubricates the path to oil exports - Oil Change InternationalOil Change International - Greg Muttitt
17dec15 Lifting the Crude Oil Export Ban: Supply Side and Climate Commonsense - Oil Change International - Lorne Stockman.

8dec15 Tar sands alarm as US crude exports to Europe rise - Arthur Neslen - The Guardian "US crude exports to Europe increase by 73% in less than a year, sparking fears that ‘flood gates’ may be being opened to tar sands".

COP21: November-December 2015: TTIP and CETA work in opposition to what little might be achieved at the COP21 climate talks. Here are 3 of a number of 2015 articles on this topic:
27nov15 EU-US trade deal will unleash oil sands and fatally undermine climate efforts - Mark Dearn of War on Want - Global development - The Guardian.
3jul15 TTIP aim to lift US oil export ban goes against climate targets - Sam Lowe of FoE - Environment - The Guardian.
22jan15 TTIP, CETA, ISDS and CLIMATE CHANGE - The impact of “Free Trade Agreements” such as TTIP and CETA on climate change - Henry Adams - my submission to the EAC of MPs.

25nov15 Two thirds of European oil refineries ready for tar sands imports - by James Crisp in EurActiv, referring to a study commissioned by Transport & Environment and Friends of the Earth Europe.

More good news: 23nov15 Another Historic Day in the Battle to Stop the Tar Sands - Mike Hudema, Greenpeace: "Today people slowed the beast again but this time we did it at the source.   After a string of pipeline victories and over a decade of campaigning on at least three different continents, the Alberta government has finally put a limit to the tar sands. Today they announced they will cap its expansion and limit the tar sands monster to 100 megatons a year (equivalent to what projects already operating and those currently under construction would produce).   As momentous an occasion as it is when an oil jurisdiction actually puts limits on growth, 100 million tons of carbon a year at a time when science is demanding bold reductions is still far too much. While historic, the government’s cap needs to be viewed as a ceiling rather then a floor and a ceiling that we will need to work like crazy to ratchet down until it meets the science.   On the good side what the current cap does mean is that the two-to-five fold expansion the tar sands industry had planned will not happen. ..."

GREAT NEWS! 6nov15 President Obama announces that he agrees with the decision of the State Department to reject the Keystone XL pipeline!  - At last!!
Obama announced that the pipeline would not serve US national interests because 1. would not contribute long-term to the economy, 2. would not lower gas [petrol/diesel] prices for US consumers, 3. would not increase US energy security... "clean power from the wind and sun is cheaper than the dirty alternative  Canada's new Liberal President - Trudeau expressed his disappointment. Video of his full announcement. Some of his words: "America is leading on climate change by... ..America is now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change, and frankly, approving this project would have undercut that global leadership. That's the biggest risk we take. Not acting." Then referred to upcoming Paris climate summit. ... "If we want to prevent the worst worst effects of climate change, the time to act is now, not later, not some day, right here, right now. ...". Lets hope the Republicans don't win the next US Presidential election - as they might(?) reverse Obama's decision. Greg Muttitt et al.'s report - (see 27oct15 posting below) showed that blocking new pipelines constricts expansion of the tar sands industry, and shows why today's decision is a meaningful victory, as well as being a symbolic banner just ahead of COP21.
6nov15 Obama rejects Keystone XL pipeline in victory for environmental activists - Suzanne Goldenberg & Dan Roberts - The Guardian.

Great news re Shell halting its Carmon Creek tar sands project, and predicted by Greg Muttitt's report for Oil Change International The Price of Oil, which was published just hours before:
28oct15 Alberta oilsands downturn has U.S. environmental groups celebrating - Calgary - CBC News.
28oct15 Shell halts Carmon Creek oil sands project in Alberta, Canada  Business The Guardian.
28oct15 Shell takes $2bn charge on Canada oil sands project - Ed Crooks in New York FT.
27oct15 Shell to halt Carmon Creek in situ project - Shell Global.
27oct15 Lockdown: the end of growth in the tar sands - Hannah McKinnon - Oil Change International. & http://priceofoil.org/2015/10/27/lockdown-the-end-of-growth-in-the-tar-sands/ - from which you can download the report of the same name by Greg Muttitt et al.

Great news: Stephen Harper & his Conservative government ousted!
20oct15 Justin Trudeau elected new Canadian prime minister as Liberals return to power - The Guardian.
19oct15 What Your New Liberal Majority Government Means for Climate, Environment, Science and Transparency - Carol Linnitt - DeSmog Canada.

25may15 BP and the tar sands, and links to UK government: BP's "Big capital expenditure (capex) milestone: Sunrise, Canada" see section in 'Oil company bosses' bonuses linked to $1tn spending on extracting fossil fuels' by Simon Bowers & Harry Davies in The Guardian. And combine this with: 'Revealed BP's close ties with the UK government' by Felicity Lawrence and Harry Davies 20may15, shows part of how UK gov is linked to tar sands via BP.

6may15 Almost unbelievable good news: 'Canada's political landscape undergoes seismic shift with election in Alberta' - John Barber in Toronto. "Once-marginal New Democratic Party sweeps to victory over conservatives in setback for prime minister Stephen Harper’s Keystone XL pipeline efforts" Rachel Notley wins election held on Tuesday 5th May, displacing over 4 decades of Tory rule in Alberta!     Financial Post: 'How Alberta’s NDP election victory could spark a stock selloff and stall investment in the oil patch'.

22apr15 'Awaiting justice Indigenous resistance in the tar sands of Canada' by Melina Laboucan-Massimo, a member of the Lubicon Cree First Nation, - provides an excellent 22april15 update from her first hand experience. openDemocracy.

24feb15 'Shell shelves plan for tar sands project in face of low oil prices' Damian Carrington & agencies, The Guardian. "Withdrawal from the Pierre River project is the latest in a series of blows to industry reliant on high cost production struggling with oil prices at six-year lows". And in Canada's Globe and Mail: 'Shell pulls plug on long-delayed Alberta oil sands mine'. Reuters: 'UPDATE 1-Cash flows from Canada oil sands to fall by $23 bln in 2 yrs'

24feb15 President Obama vetoes the Keystone XL bill but has yet to reject the Keystone XL altogether.

20feb15 'New hopes that tar sands could be banned from Europe' [but not in the near future] by Arthur Neslen in Brussels, Guardian. Note: US during TTIP negotiations had persuaded Barroso/EU Commission to end the FQD post 2020 (the FQD appeared to have been treated as a "bargaining chip" in the TTIP negotiations). There is now hope that the FQD will be continued post 2020 (the FQD tackles the only sector of emissions within Europe that is increasing - and towards being the highest emitting sector unless tackled).

feb15 The Environment Audit Committee (a Parliamentary Select Committee of MPs) in its collation of evidence on TTIP environmental impacts has published my submission on the 'impact of TTIP, CETA and ISDS on restricting our ability to tackle climate change by democratic means' (e.g. by regulations on trade investment in high carbon life-cycle fuels). This submission uses the tar sands and Fuel Quality Directive as an example of how "free trade" principles have been successfully used by tar sands industry supporters/lobbyists, including Canada and US governments, to dilute the FQD to ineffectiveness (my submission is much the same as my poster display at the SGR conference {linked to below}, due to shortage of time to write something better). TTIP an CETA will increase the legal primacy of free trade principles over the need to act on climate change by regulating the fossil fuel industry (my direct discussion with Jacqueline Minor of the EU Commission London office confirmed this statement). Also see submission by FoE on the EAC website.

7&8jan15 Oil sands must remain largely unexploited to meet climate target, study finds - The Globe and Mail - on Unversity College London's study published in Nature on what fossil fuels must remain in the ground.

As I've been focusing in 2013 and 2014 successively on #2030decarb target for the #EnergyBill, then #Fracking (links on my hub page), and now #TTIP, #CETA and #ISDS, and as UKTSN's news coverage is excellent and comprehensive, I am only occasionally posting news here. Links to articles that have caught my attention I add to my list of LINKS to 2013 TAR SANDS news articles (< but often lags behind events; no updates yet in 2014) and my CanadaFirstNationsVsTarSands.html page (< but lags too; ditto). I hope to return to working on tar sands more fully in the future. My present work (2014), which largely focuses on the EU-US and EU-Canada free trade and investment agreements (now under negotiation and/or debate) has an important tar sands - FQD aspect: see my text here on this:

2014 'The negative impacts of TTIP, CETA, ISDS, on our ability via democratic means to tackle climate change, fracking and tar sands with legislation, regulation or policy' - by me. From which I copy: "... Pressure from US "Big Oil" interests in the TTIP negotiations has "put the boot in" on EU climate legislation designed to reduce the rising EU transport emissions (transport emissions are important in being en route to being the largest emitting sector in the EU). This 15apr14 article by EurActiv 'The tar sands mystery and the smoking TTIP gun' tries to reveal the secretive dirty dealing with oil interests (and assisted by UK e.g. Euractiv 29nov11) that has scuppered the FQD legislation. ...". I've also made into a pdf a poster display I showed at a Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR) conference: www.bit.ly/TTIP-CETA-Climate summarizing the impact of TTIP, CETA and the ISDS on climate change and our ability to tackle it via democratic processes.

RESULTS of the 17dec14 vote on the FQD by MEPs in the EU Parliament plenary session: my write-up here (the upper part of it is part of my submission for the SLACCtt newsletter for January 2015).

2014

Please sign petition v Enbridge's proposed Northern Gateway pipeline and tanker route through beautiful part of British Columbia HERE

Nov2013 FQD: Pdf of letter from DfT Minister Baroness Kramer (with covering letter by Tim Farron MP) in response to my letter to her re the FQD and the tar sands, EDM 240 (which Tim Farron signed up to) and the letters from Nobel Laureates, all re the same subject. This post is a sequel to my 18oct13 post below. To say that Susan Kramer's letter is disappointing would be an extreme understatement. I will be writing my response to her as soon as I have the time and recover from illness, and will post it here and elsewhere.

22nov13 Toxic Lakes From Tar-Sand Projects Planned for Alberta - Bloomberg "play Russian roulette with toxic water"

19nov13 The ‘Felt Impacts of the Tar Sands’ artwork unveiled at the Canada Europe Energy Summit - No Tar Sands - UK Tar Sands Network
19nov13 EU’s targeting of oil sands could have spillover effect on Keystone XL  Oliver - 19nov13 The Globe and Mail - Same old pack of lies by Canada's Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver, now with additional lies - about fracking.
13nov13 First Nation children heavily contaminated with banned chemicals "Mothers also exposed to PCBs, pesticides, and heavy metals"  On First Nation Issues, Events, And Environmental Issues On The West Coast And World Events.
13nov13 Canada reveals climate stance with praise for Australian carbon tax repeal   Suzanne Goldenberg  theguardian.com re Harper gov

23oct13 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  Another Project approval raises further questions in Alberta’s motive to stop at nothing to develop in the region   Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation and the Tar Sands 

 Canada's Information Commissioner Has Confirmed That Her Office Will Investigate Allegations That the Federal Government Is Muzzling Its Scientists - Video Dailymotion

21oct13 Oxford is saying no to Shell’s whitewashing - Tar-Free Towns Oxford, Ruthi Brandt

18oct13 I emailed this letter (pdf) to Tim Farron MP and to the new Minister of State for the DfT Baroness Susan Kramer who has now take over the remit held by Norman Baker for making the UK decision over the EU FQD. It refers to the Nobel Laureates letters and the EDM240 and this excellent briefing statement by the UKTSN: Some advice for the new minister for tar sands - Keep Tar Sands Out of Europe  and here. 29oct13 sequel: Copy of 29oct13 letter from Tim Farron MP to Baroness Kramer as covering letter to my letter of 18oct13. 

7oct13 The Tyee – Next Oil Sands Threat: Caprock Integrity  Risks of steam-assisted bitumen recovery are too little discussed, experts say. By Andrew Nikiforuk

25sep13 Michael Froman, the US Trade Representative in charge of negotiating a variety of secretive "free trade" agreements, is apparently siding with Big Oil in demanding that Europe weaken its climate laws. 'Tell Obama's Trade Rep to stop paving the way for Keystone XL' - Oil Change International. It's possible to fill in US zip code boxes by typing 123456789. Modify start of template letter to say you are from UK and don't want tar sands diesel coming here so expanding market consumption and increasing climate change. Also try tweeting similar to:
@USTradeRep DO NOT INTERFERE with EU #FQD climate law. We in UK are watching you @BarackObama @NoTarSands http://action.priceofoil.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=14338&tag=twitter … #NoKXL
I demand @USTradeRep stop paving the way for #KeystoneXL by weakening EU's climate laws http://bit.ly/1bcyis8  @priceofoil #nokxl #tarsands

6sep13 Yet more fascinating tar sands / pipeline /corruption articles in 'The Dirt' weekly - also on TSS - Tar Sands Solutions network. Wish I had time to read them - but my spare time is full up now with lobbying work etc on UK's 'Lobbying Bill' aka 'gagging bill' in relation to fracking etc. I'm hoping to witness a breakthrough soon, which might have a 'knock-on effect against tar sands industry. It's Ministers with current vested interests in e.g. the fossil fuel industry who need to be gagged from speaking on whatever they have vested interests in, not genuine charities publicizing their ethical/moral concerns.

23aug13 'Keystone XL Decision Delayed Again  Inspector General Pushes Report on ERM Scandals to January 
22aug13 'Canada's oil pipelines will not build a nation - they are a great swindle'   Martin Lukacs  22aug13 Environment   theguardian.com     - via GH

2aug13 New TransCanada Pipeline Plan ['Energy East'] Dwarfs Keystone XL – EcoWatch. It heads East to the Atlantic (and potentially to us in UK).

30jul13 Obama Calls Out Republicans For Wasting Time On Keystone  'That's Not A Jobs Plan'   ThinkProgress - Another good sign!

29jul13 'Proposed Utah Tar Sands Refinery Faces Massive Backlash' – EcoWatch. "“The public needs to understand that the Colorado River Basin’s carbon bomb dwarfs Alberta’s,” The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the site could produce anywhere between 353 billion and 1.146 trillion barrels of oil, substantially larger than the Alberta tar sands fields in Canada and the vast crude deposit inSaudi Arabia."  5aug13 sequel 'Tar Sands Stock Tanks After Direct Action in Utah – EcoWatch  Cutting Edge Environmental News Service'  8aug13 sequel: 'US Oil Sands stock drops 13 day nonviolent direct action shuts down mine' - KCSG Television

29jul13 'Alberta oil spills cause concern over Canada's approval of tar sands project'   Environment   guardian.co.uk

28jul13 An optimistic sign from Obama re likelihood of a NO to KXL: 'Obama: Keystone Jobs 'A Blip', Pipeline 'Might Actually Cause Some Gas Prices In The Midwest To Go Up'' - Joe Romm,  ThinkProgress 28jul13   <<<< Sounds good - Obama shifting towards rejecting KXL ? and see: 'Barack Obama expresses reservations about Keystone XL pipeline project'  28jul13, Suzanne Goldenberg Environment   guardian.co.uk

11jul13 Keystone XL: The Key to Crude Exports - New Report - The Price of Oil (by Lorne Stockman).

8jul13 Good news re DIVESTMENTS:
Church of England urged to use theology as motivation for fossil fuel divestment - Blue and Green Tomorrow 8jul13   
Major Fossil Fuel Divestments Strengthen Renewable Energy Movement Worldwide – EcoWatch  Cutting Edge Environmental News Service 8jul13 
Kevin Grandia:  'Investors Give Canada's Tar Sands the Heave-Ho' 7jul13  Major Norwegian Pension Fund Drops Tar Sands Investments   DeSmog Canada 5jul13 - Kevin Grandia   Storebrand.
'Dutch bank refuses loans to businesses involved in shale gas' - Blue and Green Tomorrow 1jul13  http://blueandgreentomorrow.com/2013/07/01/dutch-bank-refuses-loans-to-businesses-involved-in-shale-gas/  
  Dutch bank Rabobank has announced it will not lend money to businesses that deal with unconventional energy extraction, including shale gas, because of the environmental and social implications of doing so. - See more at:  http://blueandgreentomorrow.com/2013/07/01/dutch-bank-refuses-loans-to-businesses-involved-in-shale-gas/#sthash.1haesLQk.dpuf

6jul13 (Saturday): Tar Sands Healing Walk & 2 oil disasters:
Deadly Quebec Oil Train Disaster and Athabasca River Spill On Same Day as Tar Sands Healing Walk   DeSmogBlog 6jul13 
Highlighting human and environmental cost of Canada's energy policy with Healing Walk through oil sands   The Vancouver Observer 6jul13 
Canada's tar sands project becomes focus of 'healing walk' by activists   Environment   guardian.co.uk 1jul13 

25&26jun13 Obama's words sound very promising: Tweet by UKTSN: Great analysis piece: Obama to assess #kxl on whether it exacerbates climate change - what does this mean?  #tarsands  — UK Tar Sands Network (@NoTarSands) June 27, 2013 - re: All We Ever Asked  Keystone, Climate, and the National Interest - The Price of Oil 26jun13.

25jun13 MORE GOOD NEWS: Yesterday  evening "Oxford City Council declared itself a ‘Tar-Free City‘ by voting in favour of a motion tabled by Green Party councillor Sam Hollick. This makes Oxford the first city in Europe to reject the use of highly-polluting tar sands oil, by adjusting the policies governing the procurement of fuel to the Council for municipal use. "  Find out more about tar-free towns on www.tarfreetowns.org website. &: 'Europe gets its first ‘Tar-Free City’ -- New Internationalist'    I hope Kendal can be next Tar Free Town (should be easier now Oxford has set a good example). Would be great if Lewes became a Tar Free Town (and a Norman-Baker-free town too - maybe in 2015 if his constituents know how much he's tar-nished his formerly shiny green reputation).

21jun13 VERY GOOD NEWS: Tim Farron & 4 other LibDem MPs have signed EDM 240 - TAR SANDS AND THE FUEL QUALITY DIRECTIVE tabled 12jun13 by Caroline Lucas. Tim Farron emailed me (& Gwen Harrison) today: "Dear Henry,  Thank you very much for your recent email with regard to the essential need to constrain the market for oil that is produced from tar sands and thanks for your expert analysis that underpins this case.   You are quite right that I share your concerns about such developments and I am pleased to confirm that I have signed EDM 240 to give my full support to the Motion" pdf of our emails to Tim Farron and his reply.  Norman Baker is still supporting the tar sands oil industry by opting for tar sands fuel to be regarded by the FQD as having the same life-cycle carbon emissions as from conventional fuel, and to only consider classifying unconventionals as being of higher emissions than conventionals until the emissions of all of the hundreds of possible oil feedstocks and refining combinations has been  assessed - a recipe for kicking the tar sands oil can down the road and increasing its likelihood of going into "the long grass" - with no concern whatsoever to the urgency of preceding Obama's decision on the KXL pipeline. (See postings for 15 & 16may below).

13jun13 Stop Harper!  Canadian PM met by multiple tar sands protests in London' UK Tar Sands Network: "Stephen Harper met by large crowd of protesters from 30 environmental and human rights groups.  1. Five activists arrested after blocking the entrance to Harper’s speech andscaling the roof of Parliament.  2. 6 MPs table an Early Day Motion tokeep tar sands out of Europe.  3. Harper criticised for using trip to lobby against EU climate legislationand spread misinformation.  4.  Brigette DePape’s iconic ‘Stop Harper’ page protest recreated outside Houses of Parliament.".

16may13 'UK caught in battle over Canadian tar sands' UK Tar Sands Network:  "1. Leading scientists in London today to advise UK government on tar sands damage.  2. Leak reveals government’s pro-tar sands stance, Norman Baker’s response unconvincing.  3. Second Canadian Minister in two weeks visits UK on lobbying mission.  4. Comprehensive new tar sands fact-check website launches."

15may13 Norman Baker’s recent preference decision: 'UK signals support for EU import of Canadian tar sands oil'   Environment   guardian.co.uk 15may13 John Vidal  'Leaked papers show UK rejects proposal to classify oil from tar sands as highly polluting, a label that would deter EU countries from importing it'  ... 'But of six options put to EU countries in April on how to implement the proposal, the UK chose the two that would make no differentiation between the carbon content of fuels.  "Based on the findings so far, it seems clear that [these two] seem to meet the policy aims of the directive with the least risks of unexpected consequences," the UK said in the documents. It firmly rejected others that allowed a difference.' Charlie Kronick & Norman Baker both quoted. Baker says no change in his stance from before

Norman very wrongly misrepresents both the Fuel Quality Directive (repeatedly echoing Canada Government myths) and environmental campaigners in his statement in Liberal Democrat Voice and elsewhere. Furthermore – he ignores the great urgency to implement the FQD with a tar sands value, and downplays the dangers of delay that his alternative methodology will cause (regardless of whether delay is unintentional on his part.)
 
The tar sands industry is pushing hard to get its products to the sea in sufficient quantity for export (including to Europe) and to invest in infrastructure both for this and for increased production – which needs access to markets abroad. They may not wait for Norman’s comprehensive methodology! 
 
However comprehensively effective his alternative methodology for the FQD might potentially be (and he does little to reassure environmentalists of this) - it runs too great a risk for the FQD being too late in implementation (or of being again diluted by oil interests) – because it increases the likelihood of being pre-empted by powerful investment-related decisions for increasing tar sands infrastructure based on the export of tar sands products beyond America – including to Europe. With the effectiveness of the FQD on a knife edge, further delays in implementation are likely to be interpreted by the industry as a green light – particularly if caused by a government regarded as supportive of the Canadian government’s promotion of the Tar Sands industry (i.e. the UK Government). Such oil industry decisions are likely to increase pressure on EU Governments to dilute the FQD to prevent their investments failing. Norman appears to be oblivious of these dangers that he increases.

Test trial convicts fossil fuel bosses of 'ecocide'   Damian Carrington   Environment   guardian.co.uk  5oct11