Alberta Oilsands Projects: Canada’s Hiroshima

[Oscar]

Alberta Oilsands Projects: Canada’s Hiroshima

[ http://www.globalresearch.ca/alberta-oi ... ma/5365273 ]

By Eric Walberg Global Research, January 17, 2014

Canadian rock legend Neil Young has taken to the road with a mission. Sunday night, he laid down the gauntlet on national TV, calling the Canadian government “completely out of control” as he began his “Honour the Treaties” tour in Toronto. His goal is to help First Nations in their fight against the expanding oilsands projects in Alberta. To the government, “Money is number one. Integrity isn’t even on the map.”

Honour the Treaties is a series of benefit concerts in Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina and Calgary to raise money to support the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) in their battle against a multi-billion dollar expansion of the oilsands project in northern Alberta. ACFN’s 2007 court challenge to Shell’s lease at the Jackpine Mine failed in 2011, but is being appealing to the Supreme Court of Canada.

“The oil sands projects are among the very dirtiest on earth,” said a defiant Young. Just to extract and process the toxic sludge each day “produces as much CO2 as all the cars in Canada”, three times as much as more efficient methods. “This oil is going not to Canada, but to China where the air quality has been measured at 30 times the levels of safety established by the World Health Organization. Is that what Canada is all about?”

This is bad PR for the scandal-plagued Conservatives. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office immediately issued a statement insisting that Canada’s environmental laws are “rigorous”, and piously vowed to “ensure that companies abide by conditions set by independent, scientific and expert panels.” The statement snidely accused Young of hypocrisy: “Even the lifestyle of a rock star relies on the resources developed by thousands of hard-working Canadians every day.”

Young wasted no time in turning the tables, insisting that the tarsands “violate our laws, traditions, values” and the “inherent rights of Indigenous Peoples under international law”, that it is the Harper government that is being hypocritical. Young went to see for himself, touring one of 50 oilsands sites, and was shocked at “the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen. It`s the greediest, most destructive and most disrespectful demonstration of something that has run amok.”

Fait accompli?

Shell, Marathon and Chevron plan to massively expand their mining operations at Jackpine, about 70 km north of Fort McMurray, in Cree territory. According to CBC, “Shell’s assessment projects that 185,872 hectares of wetlands in the area will be lost or altered as a result of the Jackpine Mine expansion and other industrial activity … 21 kilometres of the Muskeg River would be destroyed as a result of the mine extension.” When the Conservative government announced final approval last December, Shell stated—anticipating smooth sailing—that it had already purchased 730 hectares of former cattle pasture to compensate for this destruction.

“And that’s Shell’s calculations! What about ours?” asks activist Jennifer Tsun. “Can someone let the migratory birds know? The caribou also need to be notified. And the fish in the water.”

The Athabasca deposit is located within the boundaries of Treaty 8 and overlaps traditional Indigenous lands of the Dene, Cree and Metis. “ACFN has, for the longest time, fought industry and government to really set lands aside for ACFN for the practice of treaty rights”, said Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Elder Pat Marcel. “I have been pushing for 20 years now for consultation to happen.” A dispirited Marcel fears that the expansion will lead to a rush of other mining projects, destroying irrevocably what’s left of their environment.

Canada’s Federal Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq admitted, “that the designated project is likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.” Nonetheless, she okayed the expansion, since the Cabinet “decided that the significant adverse environmental effects that the designated project is likely to cause are justified in the circumstances.”

Protest groundswell

Opposition to the tarsands and the Northern Gateway pipeline project to move the oil to British Columbia for export is gaining momentum, building on the Idle No More movement among natives across the country, as well as campaigns by non-native Canadians who are haunted by the Conservative government’s disregard of the disastrous fallout of its mania for money. In his CBC interview, Young compared what he saw in Fort McMurray to a slow-motion version of what the US did to Hiroshima on August 6&9, 1945. “I always felt that Canada was a different place, where the values were different and where we cherish the natural surroundings that we’re in,” he lamented.

The campaign against the tarsands has several aces up its sleeve: for one, the support of US natives and environmental activists, and (so far) US President Obama, who has shown little enthusiasm in the scheme, recently appointing an opponent of the tarsands, John Podesta, as a White House adviser.

Secondly, even if Alberta’s Conservatives (and judges) support the project, the toxic sludge dredged up and refined at such a terrible cost must transit British Columbia, where there still is no clear legal title to the land in question, since the BC government expropriated the land as “unoccupied wilderness” prior to the arrival of European settlers. Hmm. Tell that to BC natives.

This is only one of several campaigns against the Conservative agenda for natives and energy exports, stretching from coast to coast. Last November Alberta’s Lubicon Lake Nation peacefully occupied an access road to Penn West Petroleum’s oil lease site. Penn West plans to frack the natives’ territory, a process arguably as destructive as the extraction of tarsands. Whether or not their seismic pounding will find gas, it will cause widespread destruction, including the poisoning of Haig Lake and Sawn Lake, the community’s main source of fish.

In western Ontario, Grassy Narrows Council and Chief Simon Fobister rejects Ontario’s plan for another decade of clear-cut logging on Grassy Narrows territory, which would destroy what little mature forest remains.

In New Brunswick, the standoff in Mikmaq territory continues at the encampment at highway 11, so far preventing the fracking of Mikmaq lands, despite harassment by the RCMP. The corporate ‘Goliath’ there is Irving Oil, which operates Canada’s largest oil refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick, and has made New Brunswick a ‘company town’, where Irving controls much of the economy, including media, lumber and transportation services. The Mikmaq ‘Davids’ are already a legend.

Blowback from Ecuador

Harper’s energy and native troubles are not confined to Canada. An Ontario court recently ruled that Ecuadoran farmers and fishermen can try to seize Chevron Canada’s assets, based on a 2011 Ecuadoran court decision which found it liable for soil and water pollution near oil wells, which has ruined the health and livelihoods of people living in nearby areas of the Amazon rainforest. Since then, the victims have been trying to collect $18 billion in environmental damages without success. A Chevron spokesman vowed, “We’re going to fight this until hell freezes over. And then we’ll fight it out on the ice.”

Ecuadorans are also resisting the attempt by a Canadian mining firm to buy up and flatten a mountain (I’m not kidding), wiping out the village where locals have been mining gold in a low-tech, relatively environmentally friendly way for five centuries. This latest scandal is the subject of a documentary “Marmato” by Mark Grieco to be released this year.

I wonder where Harper’s sympathies lie in far-away Ecuador? Will he do what’s right—tell Chevron to pay up, tell his mining buddies to leave Marmato’s villagers in peace? Is there hope for justice for Ecuadorans from Canada’s legal system? Even the US ambassador to Ecuador in 2011 said, “I think we should be cleaning up the oil, and the lawyers are telling us not to. And we’ve got to figure out a political compromise. We’ve got to figure out a way to just get this done.” Imagine a Canadian ambassador willing to say that.

Harper’s silver lining?

Chevron’s tarsands assets would go a long way to undo the devastation that it (and its predecessor Texaco) did in Ecuador over the past half century. Hey! That would mean stopping the tarsands, which would let Canada cut its outsize CO2 emissions. As for fracking, putting a stop to that obscenity would be a blessing to everyone except a few Conservative cronies. This show of good will would be a great way to make peace with Canada’s First Nations and recoup some of Canada’s tattered reputation in the world. Win, win, win.

Neil Young’s Honour the Treaties tour is a risky gamble in the messy oilslick of politics. He’s staking his personal legend on solidarity with Canada’s First Nations. But the creator of “Heart of Gold” clearly sees a 21st century legend in the making, and wants to be part of it. “You want to know who is leading this protection?” asked one shivering Mikmaq protester last November. “The people that walk this earth, my ancestors. It is in our hearts to protect this and our hearts are leading this.”

[ http://www.globalresearch.ca/alberta-oi ... ma/5365273 ]

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LISTEN: Neil Young talks tar sands on Q: 10 highlights

[ http://music.cbc.ca/#/blogs/2014/1/Neil ... highlights ]

Neil Young kicked off his "Honour the Treaties" tour last night at Toronto's Massey Hall, and earlier in the day, he held a scathing press conference where he blasted the Canadian government for its handling of Alberta's oil sands.

All proceeds from the four-date tour will go toward Alberta's Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation's legal battle against the expansion of Shell's Jackpine oil sands operation.

During his time in Toronto, Young also dropped by the Q studios for an exclusive interview with CBC host Jian Ghomeshi, where he talked at length about the oil sands issue.

Click "open gallery" to check out the highlights — or listen to the entire interview below. 

A video version of the interview will also air on The National Wednesday.

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'Canada is trading integrity for money': Neil Young lashes out against Alberta oil sands

[ http://music.cbc.ca/#/blogs/2014/1/Cana ... -oil-sands ]

posted by Andrea Warner on Jan 12, 2014

Canadian rock legend Neil Young is about to embark on a four-stop ‘Honor the Treaties’ tour in support of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations’ (ACFN) and their legal challenge to oil sands expansion — but first he held a press conference at Massey Hall in Toronto, and in it he had harsh words about the Alberta oil sands and the Stephen Harper government.

Young was joined onstage Sunday by ACFN communications coordinator Eriel Deranger, Chief Allan Adam, MLA Andrew Weaver and moderator David Suzuki, and he shared his grave concerns not only for environmental issues but for what he says are broken promises and flagrant disregard for First Nations’ people.

“Canada is trading integrity for money,” Young said. “That’s what’s happening under the current leadership in Canada, which is a very poor imitation of the George Bush administration of the United States, and it’s lagging behind on the world stage. It’s an embarrassment to many Canadians. As a Canadian, I felt like I had a chance to do something by bringing this together.”

A longtime environmentalist, Young became interested in the ACFN’s challenges to the tar sands, and decided to meet the people bearing the brunt of their impact and see for himself what was going on.

“I met the Chief and went into the homes where the First Nations’ people were living,” Young said. “I also went to the tar sands and drove around the tar sands in my electric car, experiencing this unbelievable smell, this toxicity in my throat, my eyes were burning. And the smell started 25 miles away from the tar sands and got more intense. My son who has cerebral palsy and has lung damage, he was wearing a mask to keep the toxic things in the air out of his lungs.”

When asked whether his work with ACFN would find its way into songs in the future, Young explained why it was impossible to give a clear yes or no.

“It’s hard to say. I don’t plan it. If I write something, it will come to me. I don’t look at it that way, like a project. If something comes to me that makes sense and the music and the words and the feeling all come together and I’m writing all morning when I wake up — that’s how it happens," he said.

"I wrote a whole album about fossil fuels a few years ago, called Fork in the Road, but this is kind of a different thing. It’s a bunch of broken promises. I’m a little bit shattered by it.”

The tour, which features Diana Krall as the opening act, kicks off tonight in Toronto, and features stops in Winnipeg and Regina before wrapping up in Calgary next Sunday. 

Updated: According to CBC, the Canadian government has responded to Young's criticisms, stating "Even the lifestyle of a rock star relies, to some degree, on the resources developed by thousands of hard-working Canadians every day." For more information, visit CBC.

Follow Andrea Warner on Twitter: @_AndreaWarner

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Rocker blasts Tories over oilsands

[ http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada ... 71361.html ]

Icon compares Alberta site to Hiroshima

QUOTE: ""I want my grandchildren to grow up and look up and see a blue sky and have dreams that their grandchildren are going to do great things," he added later. "And I don't see that today in Canada. I see a government just completely out of control."

By: Nick Patch Posted: 01/13/2014 1:00 AM |

TORONTO -- Canadian rock icon Neil Young launched a blistering attack on the Harper government and Alberta's oilsands at a news conference on Sunday, saying he was "shattered" after visiting a Fort McMurray industrial site he compared to the atomic bomb-devastated wreckage of Hiroshima, Japan.

Joined on the Massey Hall stage by representatives from Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Young was especially scathing in his criticism of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's "hypocritical" administration, which Young said was ignoring science to irresponsibly drive corporate profits.

"Canada is trading integrity for money," said the environmentally engaged 68-year-old rocker. "That's what's happening under the current leadership in Canada, which is a very poor imitation of the George Bush administration in the United States and is lagging behind on the world stage. It's an embarrassment to any Canadians."

"I want my grandchildren to grow up and look up and see a blue sky and have dreams that their grandchildren are going to do great things," he added later. "And I don't see that today in Canada. I see a government just completely out of control.

"Money is No. 1. Integrity isn't even on the map."

MORE:

[ http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada ... 71361.html ]

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FEFCHAK: Letter to Editor: Neil Young

----- Original Message -----
From: John Fefchak
To: FREE PRESS WINNIPEG
Sent: Monday, January 13, 2014 8:47 AM
Subject: Neil Young

Letter to the Editor;

No doubt,there will be a multitude of rebuttals from the Feds and readers alike, as Neil Young blasts Tories over oilsands, Wpg Free Press 13 Jan.

Seeing is believing, and a picture is worth a thousand words:

[ http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-d ... 12-10?op=1 ]

John Fefchak.
Virden, Man.
204 748 2521. 13 Jan, 2014

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Neil Young lashes out against oilsands

[ http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/2014/01 ... -Oilsands/ ]

By David P. Ball Published January 14, 2014 01:30 pm |

Undeterred by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's rebuke that Neil Young's "rock star" lifestyle made him unfit to criticize Canada's oilsands, at his Toronto concert on Sunday night [ http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.c ... ght-153073 ] the legendary Canadian musician substituted Harper's name into his song 'Pocahontas,' which describes massacres against indigenous peoples.
"Stephen Harper, Pocahantas and me," the 68-year-old singer crooned to 2,700 fans in Toronto at the first show of his fundraising tour to support Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation's legal battle to halt the oilsands' expansion, which they argue has caused cancer rates to skyrocket and contaminated their lands and waters. In the street outside Massey Hall, dozens held a round dance -- a fixture of the Idle No More movement that has swept the country over the past year.

Only hours earlier, the Canadian music veteran issued his strongest words yet against his country's energy boom. He cited the statistic that oilsands-affected aboriginal communities have a cancer rate that is 30 per cent higher than the rest of the population, including rare forms of the disease linked to petrochemical pollution.

"People are dying of cancer because of this," he told reporters. "All the First Nations people up there are threatened by this ... The atrocities that happened -- they are much bigger than we can describe."

He also called the oilsands the "greediest, most destructive and most disrespectful demonstration of something that has run amok."

After Toronto, his "Honour the Treaties" tour heads to Winnipeg, Regina and Calgary. He called on Canada to uphold the deals it signed guaranteeing aboriginal communities' use of their territories would be protected.

"We made a deal with these people," Young said. "We are breaking our promise. We are killing these people. The blood of these people will be on modern Canada's hands, and it will be the result of not just a slow thing, but of a fast and horrific thing if this continues. Believe me, these people are not going to sit back and let modern Canada roll over them."

The Prime Minister's Office fired back an unusually direct response shortly after Young's announcement, saying that the resource sector is "fundamental" to Canada's economy, employing tens of thousands of Canadians.

"Even the lifestyle of a rock star relies, to some degree, on the resources developed by thousands of hard working Canadians every day," spokesman Jason MacDonald said in a statement emailed to Indian Country Today Media Network.

"Our Government recognizes the importance of developing resources responsibly and sustainably and we will continue to ensure that Canada's environmental laws and regulations are rigorous."

On Monday, Young replied that when he visited the oilsands, he drove there using an electric vehicle and biomass generator. "And I'm a rock star," he quipped.

"Our issue is with the government breaking treaties with the First Nation and plundering the natural resources the First Nation has rights to under the treaties," he added. "They are digging a hole that our grandchildren will have great trouble digging their way out of. There are better jobs to be developing."

David P. Ball is a Vancouver-based freelance journalist and frequent contributor to The Tyee. This story first appeared on Indian Country Today Media Network.

Find more in: Aboriginal Affairs and Energy

[Oscar]

Canadian singer rocks out against heavy oil

[ http://www.google.com/search?q=FUKUSHIM ... WE_enCA310 ]

Neil Young draws praise and criticism for lambasting oil industry and supporting indigenous land claims.

Renee Lewis Last updated: 14 Jan 2014 10:34

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There has never been a mine turned down, despite thousands of pages of risks being presented to these panels - David Schindler, University of Alberta
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Musician Neil Young kicked off his Honor the Treaties tour Sunday in Canada to raise money for a First Nations' legal battle against a tar sands project activists say would violate treaty and constitutional rights of indigenous communities.

"We are killing these people," Young told a crowd gathered at Toronto's Massey Hall. "The blood of these people are on modern Canada's hands."

The tour began in Toronto, where Young spoke at a news conference along with Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) Chief Allen Adam and environmentalist David Suzuki before performing in front of a sold-out crowd.

The week-long tour will visit Winnipeg, Regina and Calgary. Proceeds from the shows will be donated to the legal-defense fund of the northern Alberta-based Athabasca tribal government challenging new tar sands projects.

During a news conference, Young, who visited a tar sands site near Fort McMurray, Alberta, called the industry "the greediest, most destructive and most disrespectful demonstration of something just run amok." The rock legend said what he saw was a "devastating environmental catastrophe" that could only be compared to Hiroshima.

"We went to the homes of First Nations people and I met them," Young told concert attendees at Massey Hall. "While I was there, I drove around the tar sands in my electric car and experienced this unbelievable smell and toxicity. My throat and eyes were burning, and this was about 25 miles away from the actual site at Fort (McMurray)."

'Rigorous' environmental laws

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Jason MacDonald, a spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, told CBC Canada Monday that the natural resource sector is a fundamental part of the country’s economy.

"Even the lifestyle of a rock star relies, to some degree, on the resources developed by thousands of hard-working Canadians," MacDonald said in a statement. He added the government would "continue to ensure that Canada’s environmental laws and regulations are rigorous."

Suzuki, who introduced Young in Toronto, said that the First Nation is simply asking the government to respect an agreement that it signed.

"These are some of the poorest people in Canada, and they’re telling us there’s more important things than money — like the air, the water and all the other living organisms on the planet," Suzuki said.

'David and Goliath'

The 1,200-member Athabasca tribe has asked Canada's federal court to review Ottawa's decision to allow the expansion, which would encroach on Athabasca land.

"It's a David and Goliath story," Eriel Deranger, communications coordinator for the Athabasca First Nation, told Al Jazeera. The expansion could also violate federal laws covering fisheries and species at risk, Deranger said.

Deranger, an Athabasca tribe member, said the Jackpine Mine expansion would contribute to cumulative impacts that would break the treaty. She added that the government knew that when it was approved.

"The decision released in July made major admissions," she said. "The panel admitted that the project would have significant adverse effects on the environment and in some cases even cause irreversible damage."

David Schindler, professor emeritus at the University of Alberta, testified at the Jackpine Mine hearings. He said the area had already seen severe environmental impacts by previous mines in the area.

"They’re talking about destroying 20 kilometers of the Athabasca River - that’s a fairly big body of water," Schindler told Al Jazeera. "There are about 10,000 or more fish that go up and down that river, and it’s being treated as if it was a sewer."

Deranger said the project would impact species like wood bison, caribou and other at-risk species as well as fisheries and waterways - with no proven method of reclamation afterward.

Schindler, a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, said no real assessment process can be done by "a few government appointees known to favor the oil and gas industry."

He said his 2008 study on the environmental impact of industry pollutants was at first discounted by the government, but was later confirmed by their own studies. In the end, tougher monitoring standards were recommended, but Schindler said the monitoring program is still controlled by the government.

"There has never been a mine turned down, despite thousands of pages of risks being presented to these panels," Schindler said. "It makes you feel creepy having your government make a treaty and then violate it at every turn."

The Athabasca First Nation says Shell, which operates the Jackpine Mine, breached its duties to "meaningfully consult" with the tribal council - a First Nation right across Canada in cases where energy industry activities could impact their territory.

A spokesman from Shell Canada told CBC Canada that company staff and senior leaders meet regularly to deal with aboriginal communities to discuss projects, training, business opportunities and cultural activities.

However, Deranger contested the seriousness of those meetings.

"We found our concerns are largely unaddressed … our rights left at the wayside in the development of these projects are either negated or ignored," she said.