Read the latest insights and analysis from the experts at Oil Change International.
There has been a huge amount written over the last few days about the plummeting oil price. One British newspaper is warning of an “oil war” as the price of Brent crude “tanks” on the back of oversupply in the market.
Big Oil has always been a bad, bad loser. And it is therefore no surprise that it has threatened to sue a small coastal city in Maine which on Monday night struck an historical blow against the industry by banning the export of tar sands from its harbour.
Yet another pivotal battle is brewing in Canada, over a little-known pipeline labelled the “mother of all pipelines” by the country’s First Nations.
Finally one of Canada’s leading independent tar sands producers has conceded that it is partly to blame for a series of leaks of bitumen in Alberta that have been going on for over a year.
Later today, a scientific study which has examined the health impacts of the toxic tar sands on the health of Canada’s First Nations at Fort Chipewyan in Alberta, will be released.
And so the battle lines have been drawn. On the one hand you have Canada’s federal government, ever eager to please Big Oil, which has just agreed to let Enbridge build its highly controversial $8 billion Northern Gateway pipeline from the toxic tar sands of Alberta to the rugged coast of British Colombia.
The clock is ticking. Within the next ten days, the Canadian federal government is expected to announce its final decision on the controversial Northern Gateway pipeline, which will transport toxic tar sands from Alberta via British Colombia to the Pacific Coast.
After one of the most aggressive and disingenuous lobbying campaigns in recent years, Canada has won “big concessions” in its fight against the landmark European climate legislation, called the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD)
Over the last couple of years the Canadians have become accustomed to growing international criticism of their reckless and belligerent exploitation of the tar sands. They have aggressively just carried on drilling, nonetheless.
Under a clear-blue spring sky, thousands of people joined ranchers and First Nations leaders from the Cowboy and Indian Alliance for a ceremonial procession along the National Mall in Washington DC to protest against the controversial Keystone XL pipeline on Saturday.
