[simma2000]

just listened to a report on bbc radio2 chris evens show about the canadian oilsands. aparently its the largest oil depository behind saudi oil. this guy was singing its praises big time. i've only seen a show on discovery about it and it looks like it causes a big mess to get a little gain, no?????

[Zipperfish]

ziggy ziggy:

Joe_Stalin Joe_Stalin:

$1:

The water used for petroleum extraction is stored in huge, toxic tailing ponds that now cover an area of more than 50 square kilometres, according to a recent report by the Pembina Institute.

Any reason they do not recycle this water or do they?

By recycle I mean use the same water over and over again.

$1:

At the same time, David Pryce, vice-president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, says the industry is very much aware of how important the issue of water is to the people living in northern Alberta and the NWT and the concerns they have about the water its been taking from the Athabasca River. He says that awareness has led to continual improvements in the recycling of water used in the tarsands process where wastewater is placed in tailings ponds, treated and used again. Pryce says the water licences issued to tarsands projects requires them to recycle 90 to 95 percent of the water they take, and the industry complies. He also points out the industry is continually looking at technology that will reduce water consumption. “Water handling is expensive,” Pryce says. “Anything we can do to minimize costs, there is an economic incentive to do that.” Still, Pryce admits that as the tarsands industry grows and production ramps up in northern Alberta, its water needs are growing despite improvements in recycling and testing technologies that will eliminate or reduce the need for water.

Water handling is expensive? Unforutnately the water is free. If they had to pay for the water, they'd have even more incentive to conserve.

I don't know what constitutes recycling in this case. I don't think most of the water taken from Athabasca River is returned to the river. Only one oil sands project (Suncor) has a return flow requirements to the Athbasca as a requirement of its licence. I think the rest It just goes to huge tailings where the hope is that it will be non-toxic in a hundrded years. Could be wrong though.

[Toro]

philowl philowl:

Private Corporations are the root of resource destruction. Driven by fear and greed, both powerful motivators, firmly entrenched in our country.

The first was the Dutch East Indian Company, created in the 1600s, and later, the Hudson Bay Company, but the first corporation created in Canada was a early Quebec cooperative. Cooperatives are very ancient. A Norwegian said "Cooperatives go back before our recorded history."

Co-ops are people who join together to provide for each other' needs. It is democratic, as opposed to the "royal" hierarchy of the private corp. where the owner or president has all the power. Credit Unions are the banking system to co-operatives.

We should be teaching co-op education in our schools. Then start to convert private corps. to co-ops, otherwise, each day each of us will give our energy to support private corps, and go to our destruction by pollution and climate change.

"I might be a dreamer, but I'm not the only one."

We tried communism.

It failed.

[sasquatch2]

philowl wrote:

$1:

Private Corporations are the root of resource destruction. Driven by fear and greed, both powerful motivators, firmly entrenched in our country.

The first was the Dutch East Indian Company, created in the 1600s, and later, the Hudson Bay Company, but the first corporation created in Canada was a early Quebec cooperative. Cooperatives are very ancient. A Norwegian said "Cooperatives go back before our recorded history."

Co-ops are people who join together to provide for each other' needs. It is democratic, as opposed to the "royal" hierarchy of the private corp. where the owner or president has all the power. Credit Unions are the banking system to co-operatives.

We should be teaching co-op education in our schools. Then start to convert private corps. to co-ops, otherwise, each day each of us will give our energy to support private corps, and go to our destruction by pollution and climate change.

"I might be a dreamer, but I'm not the only one."

Unlike the rest of us, who generally accept life as it is, utopians insist on building a new and better order. To achieve this, they demand all powers for themselves, display a chilling contempt for human life, and harbor ambitions to spread their vision globally. Several utopian schemes come to mind, with fascism and communism historically the most consequential and each of them claiming tens of millions of casualties.