Industrial Water Consumption

Edmonton... Twelve independent experts from across North America have been chosen to help create a world-class environmental monitoring system for Alberta’s oil sands.

“I am committed to ensuring we have a robust, credible, and transparent environmental monitoring, evaluation and reporting system in the province, beginning with the oil sands region,” said Rob Renner, Minister of Environment. “This extremely accomplished group of individuals, who have significant experience and wide-ranging expertise, will deliver on this important initiative.” ... Read more »

There is little question that America remains addicted to oil just as we were five years ago when then President George W. Bush famously included that statement in his 2006 State of the Union address. While this chart shows the temporary drop in oil imports largely attributable to the recession, America still continues to import an unbelievable 11,000,000 barrels of oil per day.... Read more »

The comments came fast and furious to Canada's New Environment Minister's Job: Shill The Tar Sands as "Ethical Oil", some in particular found Andrew Nikiforuk's criticism of the term to be a bit over the top. Now cooler heads have added their opinions, including Emma Pullman at Desmogblog:

Calling the oil "ethical" is damaging to the debate because it shuts off debate. It creates a space where those who argue against tar sands oil are unethical, or hate freedom and democracy. Reframing the debate in this way fails to get at the true crux of the problem: we have a dirty oil addiction, and the oil industry is inadequately regulated to the detriment of people's health. Alberta's "Ethical oil" fails to get us out of this paradigm. It's still oil at the end of the day, and dirty oil at that.

Gillian Steward reports in the Star from the oil patch in Calgary:... Read more »

SASKATOON — Despite alarm bells raised recently over toxins spewed from Alberta's oilsands into Saskatchewan, results of a recent survey indicate one-quarter of the province's residents support oilsands development.

The results of a survey performed by Sigma Analytics for the Saskatoon StarPhoenix and the Regina Leader-Post show 24.9 per cent of respondents "strongly support" oilsands development in the province.

But those who caution against this type of development see a different picture in the survey numbers.

"If you didn't really know much about the issue, sure, why wouldn't you support it?" said Ann Coxworth, research adviser for the Saskatchewan Environmental Society (SES) and author of a report titled Carbon Copy: Preventing Oilsands Fever in Saskatchewan.... Read more »

OTTAWA — There are "significant" weaknesses in monitoring pollution from Alberta's oilsands sector that must be corrected, a scientific panel concluded in a report released Tuesday.

The findings were submitted to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government last week after a two-month analysis that was commissioned by former environment minister Jim Prentice.

"The minister asked the panel whether or not Canadians had a first-class state-of-the-art monitoring system in place in the oilsands," said the report from the panel, chaired by Liz Dowdeswell. "In the view of the panel, the answer is no — but . . . We are convinced that the current activities could be transformed into a system that will provide credible data for decisions."

But despite some positive signs and strengths, the panel noted "significant shortcomings in the monitoring system as a whole."... Read more »