Tar Sands Newsroom

1,700-mile Canada-U.S. pipeline plan clears key hurdle

A controversial proposal to build a giant oil pipeline between Alberta, Canada, and Texas cleared a key hurdle Friday as the State Department said the project could be built without significant damage to the environment.

Known as Keystone XL, the 1,700-mile pipeline has drawn fierce criticism from environmentalists, who are staging a two-week demonstration at the White House. So far, some 370 people have been arrested for protesting the project.

1,700-mile Canada-U.S. pipeline plan clears key hurdle
CNN
Saturday, August 27, 2011

Nation's Largest Environmental Organizations Stand Together To Oppose Oil Pipeline

Release Date: 
Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Washington, DC -- The heads of the nation’s largest environmental organizations—often at odds on the best strategy for combating climate change—released a letter today calling on President Obama to block the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which would span from the tar sands of Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico. (1)

As Congress Moves to Fast-track Keystone XL Pipeline, Environmental Leaders Call for Civil Disobedience at the White House

Release Date: 
Wednesday, July 20, 2011

20 July 2011 Washington, DC -- On the same day as the Republican-led House Foreign Affairs Committee voted to approve a text saying that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "should promptly authorize" the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, the executive directors of leading environmental groups released a letter calling for massive sit-ins at the White House this August to pressure President Obama to deny the pipeline the permit necessary for c

Peak Oil, Peak Water, Peak Resources, Peak Planet: Building a Currency for the 21st Century

In a planet running out of resources, the most important public policy tool may be the measuring stick.

This becomes important to remember amid the remarkable swings of pessimism and guarded optimism we’ve seen over the past two years on the ability of individual nations to scale-up the sustainable energy agenda.

Peak Oil, Peak Water, Peak Resources, Peak Planet: Building a Currency for the 21st Century
National Geographic
Tuesday, May 31, 2011

RBS faces AGM protests over tar sands cash

Royal Bank of Scotland faces protests from native tribespeople today over its backing for the controversial extraction of oil from tar sands in Canada.

RBS faces AGM protests over tar sands cash
The Independent
Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Texan Takes Fight Against Tar Sands Pipeline to Citigroup

Release Date: 
Thursday, April 21, 2011

NEW YORK, April 20—David Daniel is traveling 1,500 miles from the Piney Woods of East Texas to midtown Manhattan this week with a message for Citigroup, the nation’s third-largest bank: Don’t help a Canadian oil pipeline company endanger my community.

Royal Bank of Canada Steps Away from Tar Sands With Support for First Nation Rights

Release Date: 
Wednesday, December 22, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO—The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) today made public its new environmental and social standards, which will govern financing of clients in high-impact sectors including Canada’s tar sands. The announcement marks a significant about face on tar sands by one of the sectors biggest financiers. The policy is the first by a major international bank to document whether bank clients have received consent from Indigenous communities.

Protesters tell Canadian Consulate: "Stop poisoning us with toxic tar sands oil"

Release Date: 
Tuesday, September 14, 2010

CHICAGO- Concerned with what has been an incessant string of oil spills and leaks, and with the health of the drinking water supply for millions of people on the Great Lakes at risk, activists of Rainforest Action Network Chicago (RAN-C) rallied in front of the Canadian Consulate in Chicago with a strong message:  Stop poisoning us with toxic tar sands oil!
 

Banks Make a Shift Toward Greener Lending

Blasting off mountaintops to reach coal in Appalachia or churning out millions of tons of carbon dioxide to extract oil from sand in Alberta are among environmentalists’ biggest industrial irritants. But they are also legal and lucrative.

Banks Make a Shift Toward Greener Lending
New York Times
Tuesday, August 31, 2010

RBS under pressure as oil funding scrutinised

Hundreds of protesters across the country have demanded that the taxpayer-backed Royal Bank of Scotland stop using public money to extract tar sands.

Anti-poverty, human rights and environmental protesters hit out on the day of RBS's annual general meeting to highlight the negative impact of tar sands extraction on climate change and indigenous communities.

Simultaneous protests were organised by the World Development Movement and People and Planet in over 15 locations including London, Cardiff, Sheffield, Cambridge and Edinburgh.

RBS under pressure as oil funding scrutinised
Morning Star Online
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
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