We started a short and sweet resource page on the environmental impacts of the Canada Oil Sands operation. If you would like to add a link to further resources drop us a line at: desmogblog [at] gmail [dot] com or leave it in the comment section below. 
| Comment: 
Democracy is utterly dependant upon an electorate that is accurately informed. In promoting climate change denial (and often denying their responsibility for doing so) industry has done more than endanger the environment. It has undermined democracy.
There is a vast difference between putting forth a point of view, honestly held, and intentionally sowing the seeds of confusion. Free speech does not include the right to deceive. Deception is not a point of view. And the right to disagree does not include a right to intentionally subvert the public awareness.
Although all public relations professionals are bound by a duty to not knowingly mislead the public, some have executed comprehensive campaigns of misinformation on behalf of industry clients on issues ranging from tobacco and asbestos to seat belts.
Lately, these fringe players have turned their efforts to creating confusion about climate change. This PR campaign could not be accomplished without the compliance of media as well as the assent and participation of leaders in government and business.
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Made some updgrades
To the oil sands fact sheet based on all of your comments. Thanks for all your help.
RE: Top 10 Facts about the
RE: Top 10 Facts about the Oilsands.
About half way up I commented on the fact that I stumbled across a very informative web site: www.canadaoilsands.ca.
We should all check it out. I think its an industry site BUT there is an open forum there as well.
Mr. Grandia, you should check out the site as well and hopefully add to your sources for your next article. I know it was very informative for me.
Kevin, thanks for the
Kevin, thanks for the reaction and deletion. It takes more time and effort from busy schedules to police comments but your readers deserve that and I appreciate your page too much to let it get bushwacked. Other readers on this and other blogs also have an obligation to each other to demand smut-removal. We all hope young students visit these discussions and learn what they will need to survive what our generation is doing to them.
John McCormick
get used to it
Where the hell is the monitor for this web page.
You, smogblog or someone in charge who should be responsible for civil behavior let the idiot Doug Maurstad slip in one of the most vile and inhuman zingers when he took it to the bottom of his in;telligence or manhood.
So, Doug, do you have a mother, a sister, a daughter, a girlfriend? Your comment sucks.
John McCormick
Agreed - and its gone
No need for offensive references like that Doug. Thanks for pointing it out John.
this is interesting
Has the Climate Sensitivity Holy Grail Been Found?
http://www.weatherquestions.com/Climate-Sensitivity-Holy-Grail.htm
Your's is ONE opinion
Just having ruturned from there I am happy to report that of our group from England, Holland, Netherlands, US, Canada and India, nearly no one supported the AGW Story.
There is hope for intellegent life on Planet Earth After all.
Holland and Netherlands are
Holland and Netherlands are the same country...
India is highly dependant on regular Monsoons. They need to grow agri-yields at 4-5% annual and are only at 0.5%/yr now, not assuming disruption by climate change. They can't even figure out how to distribute their product properly now, maybe because of caste vestiges. China and India would endure the worst disaster in human history if/when the Himalayas melt. The Himalayas supply drinking water, industrial water and irrigation for 1/2 the world's people.
For instance, China had only anticipated one degree rise in *local* temps over the fifty year anticipated operating life of a $10 billion railroad to Tibet, now they admit the median local temp rise will be 2.5C and their cooling pipes won't keep the permafrost frozen.
Their investment will depreciate much faster than expected; just like any coal plants they are building now, after China's trade partners force coal decommissioning.
England has $8 gallon gas (maybe more), and is prospering. Unlike the USA, they are paying down their debt and have only child poverty to worry about.
Right about Canada and the USA though, as of July/08.
Have you read
the actual referenced Indian government National Action Plan on Climate Change document, Gary, or are you just taking National Review columnist Chris Horner's word on what it says?
I strongly suspect the latter, since nowhere in the plan does it 'reject the IPCC claims.'
Once again, a global warming/climate change denier makes stuff up out of thin air, hoping no one will actually check by reading the source document.
Quelle suprise.
More really discusting insanity
Australia's ABC Helps Kids Calculate How Soon They Should Die for Gaia
Anyone who doubts that liberalism is a death cult needs to check out the taxpayer-funded Australia Broadcasting Corporation's kiddy-oriented Greenhouse Calculator, which helps little kids calculate how soon they should die so as to stop being a burden on the planet.
http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2008/05/australias_abc.html
India
India;
One island of reason in a sea of nonsense and hysteria:
India rejects IPCC claims!!!
To wit:
“No firm link between the documented [climate] changes described below and warming due to anthropogenic climate change has yet been established.”
http://planetgore.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MWFhYzMwNzZlYTVkYjUzZDk2YjVhMzI2MzVlY2Y2MTA=
The head of India's state oil company said Thursday that India could invest up to $10 billion dollars in the tar sands in the future.
I agree the development of
I agree the development of these tarsands create real environmental issues. The real problem is our consumption. If people didn't use so much energy driving SUVs then we wouldn't need this stuff. I found an interesting website at www.canadasoilsands.ca that has a great forum debating the issues with the tarsands. Though it is apparently an industry site they have no qualms opening this debate to everyone's opinion whether they may like it or not.
thanks for the short list
A couple of times I had trouble interpreting things like this:
"5. Processing the oil sands uses enough natural gas in a day to heat 3 million homes in Canada."
Does this mean 'heat 3 million homes in Canada for a day' or 'for a winter' or .... There were a couple of cases like this in the list where I thought it would better to be more explicit and put links in every point -- you don't want it to resemble an AGW-denier's list in any way.
Thanks
Good ideas Steve, thanks. Problem is a lot go these facts came from pdf documents and I hate bogging up people's bandwidth. That's why I started the sources at the bottom. I'll put links in where I can.
Typo
"ends up in ends up in"
To my knowledge, #3 is when,
To my knowledge, #3 is when, not if. It is conceded there is no way to prevent a tailings pond failure and no way to eliminate tailings ponds (scheduled to grow 4-5x in size very shortly).
No doubt, *when* one of the world's largest river aquifers are polluted, there will be *federal* disaster assistance with Ontario taxpayers picking up the biggest chunk of the tab. Of course, big oil propaganda has successfully convinced even desmogblog that #3 is "if", not "when".
Funny, with the $50 million big oil in AB is using to market itself erroneously as green, it could become the world leader in the kind of research needed to address tailings pond cleanup (as much as it is possible to cleanup tailings ponds). To "partially" clean them up is projected to cost $25 billion, 2/3's AB's present sovereign oil fund garnered under present tax-levels. Of course, deniers would just claim there is no proof of tailings ponds, and we need leave the tax code alone while doing more decades-long research to see if tailings ponds are real and aren't some self-serving environmentalist conspiracy.