H2Oil: An Explanation of the Tar Sands in Alberta

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The tar sands in Alberta are so big they can be seen from space...

H2Oil is a documentary, now on DVD.

“In the vast, pristine forests of Western Canada, the ‘war for water’ has already begun…

Thanks to Alberta’s Athabasca oil sands, Canada is now the biggest oil supplier to the United States. A controversial billion-dollar industry is heavily invested in extracting crude from the tarry sands through a process so toxic it has become an international cause for concern. Four barrels of glacier-fed spring water are used to process each barrel of oil, then are dumped, laden with carcinogens, into leaky tailings ponds so huge they can be seen from space.

Downstream, the people of Fort Chipewyan are already paying the price for what will be one of the largest industrial projects in history. When a local doctor raises the alarm about clusters of rare cancers, evidence mounts for industry and government cover-ups. In a time when wars are fought over oil and a crisis looms over access to clean fresh water, which resource is more precious? And what price are we willing to pay? — Gisèle Gordon.”

And now they want to do this in Utah, though on a smaller scale:

A plan to strip-mine oil sands crude on U.S. land for the first time in northeastern Utah is facing legal challenge.

Through a legal appeal, a pair of local environmental groups are working to overturn a decision earlier this month by John Baza, director of the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining (UDOGM). He upheld a permit approval for a 62-acre mine in the remote Uinta Basin of the Colorado Plateau.

Should the legal option fail, the groups said they are determined to block the project – by whatever “peaceful” means...

See: The End of the World As We Know It? The rise of the post-carbon era

See: Take the Tar Sands Pledge of Resistance