Skip navigation

 Login or Register | Member Centre

Greenpeace breaks into oilsands operation

The Canadian Press

Latest comment posted at 12:19 PM EST 25/07/08

Small group of activists in Alberta say they've blocked pipe that flows into Syncrude Canada's tailings pond ...Read the full article

This conversation is closed

  1. Ian Gunn from Minneapolis, United States writes: So when the sludge backs up, where do they think it will go?
  2. JD Would from Calgary, Canada writes: 500 ducks in 'tar' sands'
    How many in wind power wind mills?
    do as i say, not as i do. I like wind mills, so are good, I hate oil sands, so they are bad.
  3. Richard Head from Dildo, NFLD, Canada writes: Sounds like the perfect scenario for a Mountie and his / her taser. Have at it!!
  4. Jeff S from Canada writes: Sorry Globe, it's Terrorism not Activism.

    As the broke into the compound they employed a Use of force with the intent to destroy property for idealogical purposes. Seems pretty straightforward to me.

    American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This ter·ror·ism Audio Help (těr'ə-rĭz'əm) Pronunciation Key
    n. The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons.
  5. Green Canada from Edmonton, Canada writes: I'm not saying its right but Jeff S. where is there proof that there was any use of force or the intent to destroy property. you are assuming many things based on nothing. You don't even know that they broke in, maybe someone let them in.
  6. Pablo W from Mid Ontario, Canada writes: Hey JD, when you find the number I would love to know.
  7. Green Canada from Edmonton, Canada writes: I should clarify just because the head line says they 'broke in' doesn't mean they did. there are no facts outlined in the story about how they got in. Obviously, even if they are allowed in by an employee there will be major repurcussions.
  8. Antonio San from Canada writes: Green Canada will justify anything as long as this is to 'save the planet'. Next little green guards will come to houses to extirpate the evil CO2 producers... just watch: totalitarism walking before running.
  9. Jack Schroder from Canada writes: probably ZERO JD.
  10. Harbinger from Out West from Canada writes: Jeff S.....With the right lawyers terrorism can be watered down to something as simple as trespass (first offence-probation) and then there is something called mischief. Depending on how the judge interprets it, mischief can be construed as being a step above being a naughty nuisance. In 100 Mile House, BC a few years ago, the attempted murder of Mounties was doctored down to mischief. Canada doesn't punish like the good ol' USA. Wish it did.
  11. D. MacKay from Atlantic, Canada writes:

    There must have been some warning that they were coming.

    An angry group of hippies , furiously pedalling eco - friendly bicycles into Syncrude , would be hard to miss.

    If they get annoying , I can send a hakapik.
  12. Roger Gagne from Calgary, Canada writes: Jeff S from Canada writes: 'Sorry Globe, it's Terrorism not Activism.'

    While you're defining terrorism, Jeff, why not ask the opinion of Bangladeshis or islanders in southern seas who are losing their mud homes to rising waters? Or 90% of the species on our planet, drowning polar bears being the obvious one.

    This discussion reminds me of Tzeporah Berman, who said after the Clayoquot Sound protests, 'The day will come when the people arrested for trying to protect forests will be seen as heroes rather than criminals.'
  13. R. M. from Regina, Canada writes: And will Greenpeace get a $1 million fine or greater and if they did would they ever pay it??? Of course not. These people are not protesters they are anarchists and if punished they will whine and cry and moan and protest....They are their fundraising propaganda mailouts are a joke.
  14. J F from Vancouver, Canada writes: I dislike Greenpeace's tatics in general but something needs to be done to bring this issue forward...so far documentaries, newspaper ads, general publicity hasn't really done anything. The water from the tailings ponds should be pumped into downtown Calgary so all the fatcat ignorant oil execs can see what a mess they're making.

    This about more than 500 dead ducks, this is about an unsustainable industry and a quick cash grab at the expense of our environment. We all just need to stop driving so much, turn the heat down and stop consuming so much crap and we wouldn't need all this oil.

    Canada's dirty secret...tsk tsk, shame on you Alberta.
  15. Green Canada from Edmonton, Canada writes: Antonio says totalitarism walking before running......

    ___________________________________
    hmmm it seems you prefer totalitarianism already....misrepresentations over evidence. If they have done something illegal they should be charged period. but unlike yourself and JD I would like to know the facts first...or would you simply label people terrorists on a whim and vacuous rhetoric.
  16. Harbinger from Out West from Canada writes: Farting around on oil sands property is gonna stop sea levels rising in Bangladesh and screwing around the lives of polar bears? Gee, I believe that. When the Pope gets married, pal.
  17. Bob Hannah from Canada writes: 4720 bird deaths per year at a wind farm in California according to this story.

    http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/30802/story.htm
  18. scott thomas from Canada writes: Dead ducks. What about the astronomical canceer rate among native Canadians who live downstream?
  19. Michael Sharp from Victoria, Canada writes:

    Greenpeace is a dead duck.
  20. Green Canada from Edmonton, Canada writes: Bob, what's your point. Cats kill probably 100 times that amount and some of the older farms were stupidly cited in migration paths (its old news).
  21. Godfried Wasser from Calgary, Canada writes: Yes it is a well published fact that wind mills kill birds. Does that mean we should stop generating wind power? Not in my books. It is also well known that birds collide into windows of buildings. Should we therefore tear the buildings down or take out the windows?

    These Green Peace activists are trepassing onto Syncrudes property - surely they don't have syncrudes' permission to raid their equipment and sabotage their operations. These guys ought to be arrested, surely there is no law for activists and one for everyone else. Oops, I forgot Caledonia.

    Lock them up. Expressing your opinion on land claims or the environment is fine and even recommendable. To take the law in your own hands is being a vigilante or an eco-terrorist. They should be held accountable.
  22. J M from Canada writes: You can call Greenpeace terrorists, stupid hippies or whatever, but that doesn't stop the fact that the Oil Companies are LAWFULLY wreaking havoc on the environment and that WE ALLOW THEM AND ENCOURAGE THEM to do it.
  23. Ned Chiwalski from Oilberta, Canada writes: Forget arreasting these guys. Just drop them into the tailings ponds and let them swim out. Then scoop up what's left!
  24. Godfried Wasser from Calgary, Canada writes: lots or surely-s
  25. max from edmonton from Canada writes: scott thomas from Canada writes: Dead ducks. What about the astronomical canceer rate among native Canadians who live downstream?
    *******************************************************
    Just curiuos Scott, What is the historic recorded rate of cancer amongst the people you describe. For countless centuries the naturally occuring bitumen has been seeping into the Athabasca river, ground waters etc.

    Further to that note, what is the average life span amongst those same people? Is it longer or is it shorter than what it was say between 1900-1950
  26. Stop! Think! from Canada writes: I love how they call them 'ponds', as if to conjure up some feeling of it being small....When you can see the effects from space, you know theres an issue...Tell me enviro-haters, how do you propose to clean up the mess they are making, becuase apparently no one knows how....Funny how we had someone proposing a million dollar fine to greenpeace, yet we don't even reuqest that these companies come up with strategies to clean this up....Tailing 'ponds', what a joke...
  27. Unknown User! from Canada writes: god damn hippies. Someone tazer them or else gas prices are gonna rise because of all this.
  28. MJ M from Alberta, Canada writes: 'Dead ducks. What about the astronomical canceer rate among native Canadians who live downstream'

    These so called Astronomical cancer rates were reported by a disgraced former local Doctor who has since been run out of town and is now misdiagnosing patients in Nove Scotia. The guy had huge personal and family problems during the 20 or so years he lived in Fort McMurray and became a bitter pissed off guy. Statistically the cancer is no higher in Fort Chipewyan than anywhere else in Western Canada. The other thing to remember is that it is on the same lake as Uranium City, the abandoned uranium mine in Northwestern Saskatchewan that was never really cleaned up.

    Arrest them, treat them like the vandals they are.
  29. Joe Canadian from Canada writes: I'd bet the Green Peace drove to Fort Mac in a gas burning car like a bunch of hypocrites
  30. Nassar Ben Houdja from Canada writes: A few years in jail with a 20 watt light bulb and tofu three times a day should assist them in reducing their carbon footprint.
  31. Prairie Boy from Canada writes: Some say that property was not damaged. Do you know? If you plug an outlet, something backs up, when it backs up it leaks, when you build an outflow to go somewhere then that is where it is designed to go.

    It seems the intent was to CAUSE a spill so they could dance and point and say See See.
  32. Chris Michaels from Oakville, Canada writes: J F from Vancouver, Canada writes: I dislike Greenpeace's tatics in general but something needs to be done to bring this issue forward...so far documentaries, newspaper ads, general publicity hasn't really done anything. The water from the tailings ponds should be pumped into downtown Calgary so all the fatcat ignorant oil execs can see what a mess they're making.

    I agree with this...I'm not a big fan of most of Greenpeace's actions -- they are far from terrorism, in my view, but are often counter productive and immature.

    That said, I admire anyone who brings this issue greater attention. The tar sands are an international embarrassment. The Alberta economy can take a back seat in this regard -- its time to start being acting in a quasi-responsible manner.
  33. Pepito Q from Canada writes: The paranoia for eco-totalitarianism coupled with the desire to spill hippy blood is just too much. Where to start? Should I point out to them that they are bunch of paranoid, xenophobic conservative voters that play into left and right political dichotomies, or just a bunch of fat-bottomed, forum dwellers that have anger problems. I think both!
  34. Clive Gingell from Canada writes: Roger Gagne writes: why not ask the opinion of Bangladeshis or islanders in southern seas who are losing their mud homes to rising waters?
    ..................
    Work on the tar sands started, (on a much smaller basis than today), around 1967; the area that is now Bangladesh, which is a highly overpopulated, mostly flat area at the confluence of three or more large rivers, and also subject to monsoons has been flooding FOREVER.

    There is no relationship between the two.
  35. Jeff S from Canada writes: JM from Canada you sound as if you never flushed a toilet in your life. That is so damaging to the water table you know. Your live in a building built on the land that could have been used by swifttail swallows for breeding. Should we all hover in the air? Maybe we should have jumped right to the solar age after the middle ages. I mean, we didn't really need the Industrial revolution. We would have made out fine if those 17th-19th century scientists could have got it right the first time. So wasteful them fella's. Trying to figure out how to feed more people easier and make working conditions easier. They were lucky they didn't have to deal with the hoodlums their modern day equivelents have to deal with. Maybe YOU should come up with a few solutions. Don't just say we should move away from oil. Why don't you tell us how. Please. Give us the details too. People smarter than I have done the calc's needed to turn our oil dependent economies over to 'green' energies. It's going to take a lot more than snapping your fingers. I keep forgeting though that some people won't let the Facts turn them from something. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance I don't suffer from this because I realize that true green tech will be better but it won't happen overnight.
  36. Dan Green from Palm Beach Gardens FL, United States writes: Quack Quack. Ducks are dumb. They land in my pool !
  37. Laurent Woznicki from Chicago, United States writes: It is about time GreenPeace had some balls to do anything then just talk.......Now if they could only step up like 'Sea Shephard' does then it would actually mean something......

    The backward canadians need to be taught a lesson.................it is a shame that they are killing off the wildlife in and around Canada .
  38. Godfried Wasser from Calgary, Canada writes: Pepito Q from Canada writes: 'The paranoia for eco-totalitarianism coupled with the desire to spill hippy blood is just too much. Where to start? Should I point out to them that they are bunch of paranoid, xenophobic conservative voters that play into left and right political dichotomies, or just a bunch of fat-bottomed, forum dwellers that have anger problems. I think both! '

    Do you really think that plugging a pipe to a tailings pond and possibly causing a chemical spill or the criminal actions of Ggreen Peace activists ramming boats on the East Coast is innocent hippy work?

    When do you draw the line? When they blow up an office building?

    For me the term 'Green Peace' is quickly becoming an oxymoron.
  39. Bill G from Calgary, Canada writes: Ecofascists strike again. If they catch these guys, throw the participants in jail and fine Greenpeace.
  40. John Fedup from Canada writes: Greenpeace lovers....GFYs
  41. Jesse Winger from Calgary SW, Canada writes: Hail Greenpeace.
    Non-violent action to show the world the true mess that the tar sands have become! Not like pro-lifers who go bombing abortion clinics or assassinating doctors, I note.
    NOT to say they need always remain messy because I think some companies up there actually do care about the environment and are working slowly to improve things. (The fact these companies were merely following weak Government rules, both provincially and federally, in the past gives them a legal excuse, I guess.)
  42. J M from Canada writes: Jeff S: This is a trite attempt at making people feel guilty for contamination of the environment and thus unable to be critical of others who pollute. This has nothing to do about green tech and everything to do with cost-saving practises that allow oil companies to make wider margins in Canada. After three hundred years of the industrial revolution and all of its effects (including urbanization and population growth) it is clear that being inefficient and dirty will have long-term ecological impacts that will compromise ecosystem resiliency or will be too costly to restore. I am not denying my impact, I am being critical of one of many practises that we simply shouldn't tolerate given the condition of the environment and available technologies!
  43. J Derk from Canada writes: Environmentalism is such a drag! Drowning polar bears, indeed. The last time I heard (about July '08) there are more polar bears in the Arctic than there have been since 1970, and the Arctic ice mass is larger and thicker than it has been for years. Windmills are a farce! Oil, whether from the tar sands or from Hebron, will remain 'the biggest kid on the block' for at least the next one hundred years. Besides, by the time the oil companies have finished extracting the oil from the tar sands and have reclaimed the area in accordance with government requirements Alberta and Saskatchewan will have the biggest man-made Parks and Recreation area in all of Canada with access via modern four-lane expressways and multi-million dollar airports (now being planned and constructed). Look at Butchart Gardens in Victoria.
  44. Jimmy K from Toronto, Canada writes: Someone should them them in a tailings pond.
  45. BEDMAD D from stoon, Canada writes: Hey, Lets shut down the oil sands entirely. You want to see $200 oil?
    Then you will see the green hypocrites come out complaining that gas prices are too high.
    I would throw the greenpeacers in the 'ponds' and see how they float.
    They must have been trespassing and accidentally fell in.
    Oh well! Less CO2 emissions from their useless breath. That should save the world.
  46. Michelle McAuley from Toronto, Canada writes: Really? Is this the point? Have people read the extensive Globe coverage about the destruction the oilsands are causing? Have we learned anything from the messes we've made in the past? If you listen to people in Alberta, they'll tell you how upset they are about the whole situation. I think the point is, what are we going to do about cleaning up the mess the oilsands are making? How are we going to reduce our reliance on oil? what are the other forms of energy we could be using? I'd rather debate that than hateful diatribe about 'hippies'. I think those people just want to raise awareness. Does shooting the messenger make it all go away?
  47. Michael F from Canada writes: JD Would: Wind turbines killing birds is misunderstood, a myth coming from older windmill designs. Windmills now do not have the same issue.

    Here are some explanations:

    http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/04/common_misconce.php
    http://www.awea.org/faq/sagrillo/swbirds.html
  48. R. M. from Regina, Canada writes: The tar sands in Alberta are a disgrace are they, Eastern posters?

    And nuclear power in Ontario is what? A benign approach? And incredible flooding in Quebec through hydro power development by taking First Nation's land and displacing their communities and screwing Nfld/Labrador on rate sharing without any or adequate compensation is what? honorable?
  49. Ron Hartlen from Canada writes: Who provides the financial support, and buys the sandals, for these holier-than-thou know-it-alls to go around breaking the law?
  50. Reality Cheque from Canada writes: Eco-Terrorists strike again. Time to lay down the law and take action against these wannabes.

    Send them to jail and impose large fines. Do these people actually have a job? Perhaps they rely on government handouts which largely come from those bad environmentally unfriendly companies in the first place - not only in the oil sands.

    Perhaps they can discuss their environmental opinion of their new cell mate 'Bubba'. Here's hoping ;)
  51. Derek Holtom from Swan River, Canada writes: Did those hippies ride their bikes for Fort Mac? What a bunch of hypocrites.
  52. mg casey from Canada writes: Why has Greenpeace never taken on the very important issue of declining Cod Stocks? Why?
  53. john 'trillium boy' smith from Centre of Universe, Canada writes: @mg casey from Canada writes: Why has Greenpeace never taken on the very important issue of declining Cod Stocks? Why?

    I do not know answer to your question but go to their website and see for yourself that declining sea food stocks worldwide is the big issue for them now.

    I am sure that Greenpeace folks are wrong (but pretty much harmless too)
    I always trust our elected governments and private sector (big multinational corporations especially) that they know what they are doing. I am sure they will protect our us and our environment. They will make sure it is healthy, secure and plentiful for us and future generations. Our elected officials, public servants will work together with private sector doing very good job as they always did.
  54. Jimmy K from Toronto, Canada writes: nahh see the problem is private sector only cares about money. They will destroy the environment, and then create corporations designed to fix the environment. We'll pay both times.

    The public sector is all about jobs, not providing services. Their main purpose is good union jobs, with the added benefit that now and them, someone gets a drivers licence, or is able to get from one end of the city to another on a bus. They don't care about the environment either, unless they can find a way to make a big bureaucratic program that will help them create, save, and protect more jobs for their buddies. If we have two options to protect the environment, one which is cheap, effective, and will create no government jobs, and another which is useless, expensive, and create 10 thousand jobs, the government will go with the latter. Jobs are priority number one. The actual purpose of the jobs is not relevant.

    In the middle is poor taxpayer and consumer, who gets screwed by both. A pox on both their houses.
  55. Dennis sinneD from Calgary, Canada writes:

    Bill G from Calgary, Canada writes: 'Ecofascists strike again. If they catch these guys, throw the participants in jail and fine Greenpeace.'

    Presumably they'd be easy to find... aren't they walking, running and biking back to whence they came?
  56. john 'trillium boy' smith from Centre of Universe, Canada writes: @Ron Hartlen from Canada writes: 'Who provides the financial support, and buys the sandals, for these holier-than-thou know-it-alls to go around breaking the law? '

    private donations.
    but perhaps they are lying about this. after all they suppose to wear sandals but in reality they all have gortex jackets and expensive hiking boots. !!
    I propose that somebody does something about this and sues them
    or at least sends them all to place like Gitmo.
  57. Dennis sinneD from Calgary, Canada writes:

    Oh ya, and they must be naked... right?
  58. That Guy from Fort McMurray, Canada writes: I hope those greenpeace kids checked to make sure that blocking the tailings water line didn't just divert that water right into the Athabasca river. Not to mention - any sudden stop to a continuous process means that normal systems cease to function, such as excess hydrocarbon recovery and SO2 scrubbers - blocking a tailings line can cause negative upstream effects, which usually result in massive flaring of excess gasses. Sooooo... congradulations, greenpeace. You just dumped a whole load of SO2, CO2, and god knows what else into my breathing air. Thanks a bunch.
  59. Hunteroffortune Alberta from Canada writes: Ned Chiwalski from Oilberta, Canada writes: Forget arresting these guys. Just drop them into the tailings ponds and let them swim out. Then scoop up what's left!
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Now that is too funny! How about the 300 buffalo that are now living on reclaimed oilsands land, you never hear anything about that in the Globe.

    You see people, sand filled with oil doesn't grow anything in the first place and that oil has been seeping into the river for centuries. Do you really think anything was growing there before? I challenge you to grow a tree in sand and oil. Let greenpeace grab some shovels and go tree planting, at least that would help to save the planet.
  60. Not PC from Canada writes: Don't chuck them in jail, chuck them into the tailings pond.
  61. Pickman's Modem from Canada writes: Man, after seeing this article I very much want to reread Zodiac by N.Stephenson.

    I'm sure that Greenpeace gave them plenty of warning, so there was no danger of any backflow issues or anything. I don't agree with their stance on a lot of issues, but these tailing ponds are just madness.

    We need to find another solution to dealing with this waste.
  62. B.C. Expat from Ottawa-Hull, NCR, Canada writes: It is a legal axiom within democracies that you have no right to break the law simply because you disagree with it. You must lobby to have the law changed.

    If you wish to practice civil disobedience (principled breaking of a law deemed unjust), then you must be prepared to live with the consequences until the law changes, which is being charged with a criminal offense (the ML King approach).

    If, however, you are not prepared to live with the consequences because you believe 'you are right' or you simply 'don't recognize' the system that the vast majority support (the counter-culture approach), then you are not engaging in civil disobedience, but merely committing crimes.
  63. Green Canada from Edmonton, Canada writes: first off, Greenpeace has a huge budget, meaning they have significant support from the masses or some very rich people.

    second, the argument of 'stop using oil then' is so stupid I can't stand it. No one, not even GP is arguing to stop using oil (well maybe some in the org are) but are arguing for cleaner alternatives. I for one am open for natural gas, hydro, nukes, solar, wind, geothermal. The oil sands are really dirty and guess what, if they were shut down the world would barely notice. People wouldn't make as much money in Alberta and investors would whine but so what. change is good...life goes on...one generation drives a hummer, the next rides a bike...big deal.
  64. Terry F from Edmonton, Canada writes: Tell the Greenpeacers that there's a job waiting for them. Thy'll clear out so fast their Burkenstocks would melt.
  65. Rob Swanson from Edmonton, Canada writes: Greenpeace/PETA/NDP

    The entire bunch are just a pseudonym for irrelevant.

    If the whole silly bunch of them would just off themselves in the name of the green, I might start to take them seriously.

    That would be a meaningful contribution to AGW solutions.

    Meantime, give the dumb criminals a fair trial and show them the opposite of their fantasy shangri-la.

    I'll bet they'll get along just fine with the native gangs in the jails. They can all share stories of communing with nature over drinks at the pool. Trade natural recipes n stuff.

    PS the eating soy/tofu story holds out hope they will just fade into history as an aberration.
  66. Dennis sinneD from Calgary, Canada writes: Hunteroffortune Alberta from Canada writes: 'Now that is too funny! How about the 300 buffalo that are now living on reclaimed oilsands land, you never hear anything about that in the Globe.

    You see people, sand filled with oil doesn't grow anything in the first place and that oil has been seeping into the river for centuries. Do you really think anything was growing there before? I challenge you to grow a tree in sand and oil. Let greenpeace grab some shovels and go tree planting, at least that would help to save the planet.'

    ...

    Um, why do you think they would have to knock down thousands of square km's of boreal forest to get to more oil sands then?

    'Within the next 20 years, there are plans for 3,000 square kilometres of boreal forest to be taken over by mines, industrial plants, and black lakes of wastewater.' http://tinyurl.com/5w9ncp
  67. Reality Cheque from Canada writes: In reality Oil Sands companies are GOOD for the environment. Think about it. By removing that 'Bad Oil' from the ground, they are in essence cleaning the sand, producing a valuable product in the process and helping miners find valuable minerals and elements in the tailing ponds (such as the electronic component that go into your computer). Once the land is reclaimed, we will have a better regional ecosystem than when we started.

    If people could look past the short term and not believe the foolishness of global warming (it's a natural phenomenon that occurs every 10,000 years) maybe we'd actually make some progress in this country.
  68. Chilled One from Canada writes: Just like Eugene Levy said in the old Second City skits. To Greenpeace; 'How did ya get der? Did ya drove or did ya flew??'
  69. We are all Broken from Vancouver, Canada writes: Laurent Woznicki from Chicago, United States writes:

    The backward canadians need to be taught a lesson.................it is a shame that they are killing off the wildlife in and around Canada .
    ---------------------------------
    Only a Yankee with a completely distorted view of the world would write something this stuipid. Compared too you people we are all enviromentalists. Idiot.
  70. Dennis sinneD from Calgary, Canada writes:

    I should add, Hunteroffortune, that the pasture they have the Buffalo on now used to be boreal forest.

    'Since the government considers agricultural land to be equivalent to forest land, oil sands companies have reclaimed mined land to use as pasture for endangered buffalo instead of restoring it to the original boreal forest and muskeg' http://tinyurl.com/yvxb6c
  71. Hunteroffortune Alberta from Canada writes: Dennis sinneD from Calgary, Canada writes:

    I should add, Hunteroffortune, that the pasture they have the Buffalo on now used to be boreal forest.
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    From youur same source Dennis:

    'The key characteristic of the Athabasca deposit is that it is the only one shallow enough to be suitable for surface mining. About 10% of the Athabasca oil sands are covered by less than 75 metres (246 ft) of overburden. The mineable area as defined by the Alberta government covers 37 contiguous townships (about 3,400 square kilometres (1,300 sq mi) north of the city of Fort McMurray. The overburden consists of 1 to 3 metres of water-logged muskeg on top of 0 to 75 metres of clay and barren sand, while the underlying oil sands are typically 40 to 60 metres thick and sit on top of relatively flat limestone rock.'

    So Dennis, waterlogged muskeg, clay and barren sand, is a boreal forest???? Since when??
  72. Ned Chiwalski from Oilgary, Canada writes: Hunteroffortune Alberta writes: ... Let greenpeace grab some shovels and go tree planting, at least that would help to save the planet.

    That's rich. Someone from greenpeace actually working. If I saw that then I might actually believe that global warming is real!
  73. J S from Toronto, Canada writes: 'JD Would from Calgary, Canada writes: 500 ducks in 'tar' sands'
    How many in wind power wind mills?
    do as i say, not as i do. I like wind mills, so are good, I hate oil sands, so they are bad.'

    Enjoy drinking a cup of sludge once your water supplies are depleted. Calgary's already in a water shortage so sure, let's destory all the fresh water so we can have oil. After all, who needs water to survive eh!?
  74. Richard Daystrom from Toronto, Canada writes: Wouldn't it be more effective if they pulled this stunt in Saudia Arabia? What's the worst that could happen? They get expelled out of the country? Go ahead!!! Make a worldwide statement!!!
  75. Clive Gingell from Canada writes: Richard Daystrom: Getting expelled from Saudi would be the best (for them) that could happen. :-)
  76. Bill G from Calgary, Canada writes: JS from Toronto, in Alberta the oil and gas industry is allocated 7% of the total licensed water supply. Industry uses 1/3 and agriculture 40%. The Athabasca River system has only 3.9% (2006) of its flow allocated to users, of which 1% is allocated to oil sands operations. Oil sands mines require 2.3 barrels of water to produce a barrel of bitumen. 90% of that water is recycled. And Calgary isn't in a water shortage yet.
  77. Hunteroffortune Alberta from Canada writes: JS from Toronto, we have all that fresh water from the melting glaciers, we'll be fine! You do know that your great lakes in Ontario get raw sewage spewed into them don't you? You might want to look closer to home before blaming Alberta for everything.
  78. Rick Drysdale from Canada writes: J S from Toronto
    You might want to look at a map of Alberta and tell us how much water from the Athabasca flows to Calgary and Edmonton.

    Just like a lot of Easterners you have no idea where the tar sands are or anything else about western Canada.
  79. S P from Calgary, Canada writes: Seems to me like few people have actually seen or been to a tailings pond.

    Let me translate for you
    'broken into a Syncrude Canada Ltd. operation ' = walked a few km through the bush and up a sandy hill to the top of the pond. There are no fences or security to speak of around these things. Toughest part was probably dealing with the mosquitos

    'blocked a pipe' = probably closed a valve in the line that is used for maintenance.

    Easy way to make the news.....
  80. Dennis sinneD from Calgary, Canada writes:

    Hunteroffortune Alberta, you said, 'Do you really think anything was growing there before?'

    Maybe I misunderstood you. I seems your trying to say there is no vegetation... No trees.

    Given that the overburden consists of muskeg, sand, clay, gravel AND topsoil tells me stuff is probably growing around there. And ya, trees too.

    This picture seems to show trees before...

    http://www.onearth.org/article/canadas-highway-to-hell
    http://tinyurl.com/2rhqvc
  81. aging oldtool from Canada writes: My gosh, the greasers are stirred up so much you'd think they'd been asked to swim in one of the tailing ponds.

    My regards to Greenpeace for taking on this ugly non-necessity that only adds to Canada's huge and growing environmental footprint across the world.

    Yes, when you add the tarsands to our coal exports, it paints a dark dirty energy trail leading away from our borders. Why is it not recognized for what it is, a massive addition to our footprint, or does the fact we profit from the sales mean our hands are suddenly clean?

    Frankly, Greenpeacers may have broke a law. In my opinion, many in the tarsands are commiting environmental crimes on a continual basis, yet politicians trip over themselves attempting to support and defend the industry.

    Tarsand products will be exported because Canada doesn't really need the energy today. The increasingly paranoid America is another story though, and thanks to our politicians, they'll get what they 'need'.

    Anything that encourages people to focus on the damage to the environment from the tar sands, in my opinion, is a good thing.
  82. J S from Toronto, Canada writes: I'm don't want to get into an argument over water supplies. I've read reports that indicate Alberta is in a water shortage. You people tell me there isn't, I'll believe you. Regardless of whether you have an abudance of water or not there has got to be a better way to deal with waste than trailing ponds. Nor is Ontario perfect with our water management - I never alluded to that, even though that's what you read into my comment. With all our modern technology we should be able to manage resources without destroying them - that's my point. After all, it is our environment that sustains life.
  83. D. MacKay from Atlantic, Canada writes:

    I would pay big money to watch these hippies plug a sewage line that empties into the Great Lakes.

    They could protest the creation of large urban centres like the GTA.
  84. Bill G from Calgary, Canada writes: Aging Old Tool you post so much on these boards, I feel like I know you. Mind if I call you Tool for short? You see Tool there are no environmental crimes being committed. Every operation has applied for permits and if they exceed what is permitted they are fined or shutdown until the problem is rectified. If that isn't good enough for you, Tool, move to Alberta so you can cast a vote and make a difference.
  85. Green Canada from Edmonton, Canada writes: Actually D Mackay environmental groups have often attempted to prosecute cities and towns for dumping their waste into waterbodies, since it is in violation of the FIsheries Act. Unfortunately the government has historically intervenes and stays these prosecutions.

    p.s. the story in the Edmonton Journal says they didn't block anything.
  86. Dennis sinneD from Canada writes:

    Did they plug it or cap it or neither?
    S P and Green Canada read that they didn't but Greenpeace says they did in this article.

    'Greenpeace said in a release that 10 activists put a cap on the pipe at the Aurora North mine at Syncrude's project site near Fort McMurray in northern'

    http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKN2450928120080724
  87. Hunteroffortune Alberta from Canada writes: aging oldtool from Canada writes: My gosh, the greasers are stirred up so much you'd think they'd been asked to swim in one of the tailing ponds.

    My regards to Greenpeace for taking on this ugly non-necessity that only adds to Canada's huge and growing environmental footprint across the world.

    Yes, when you add the tarsands to our coal exports, it paints a dark dirty energy trail leading away from our borders. Why is it not recognized for what it is, a massive addition to our footprint, or does the fact we profit from the sales mean our hands are suddenly clean?
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    You show your ignorance by calling the oil sands, tarsands. So you are more worried about our footprint, then supplying countries who need energy to help bring their people out of poverty? You want people to live without electricity because our resources are 'dirty'?

    There you have the typical econut, a tree or duck or footprint, is more important than a person. That's the true face of environmentalism. 500 ducks are a bigger disaster than 500 people starving who might be helped with one tractor and the diesel needed to fuel it.
  88. Joseph Bloggins from Canada writes: Hopefully they get sued for the disturbance and any damage caused. They should also be investigated for the potential that they actually baited the ducks that found their way to the tailing pond. GreenPeace is now a lunatic organization that needs to be watched and investigated very closely.
  89. Bill G from Calgary, Canada writes: JS from Toronto, here's and interesting link from the Petro-Canada web-site. I am sure there are other companies sites that you can go to if you are interested in their site re-mediation plans.

    http://www.petro-canada.ca/en/environsociety/4696.aspx
  90. Joseph Bloggins from Canada writes: aging oldtool....your comments are idiotic. Your version of the laws are not relevant.
  91. Dennis sinneD from Canada writes:

    Bill G, JS from TO...

    Here's some pics of reclaimed land, from Syncrude. I see trees...

    http://www.syncrude.ca/users/folder.asp?FolderID=5703
  92. martha stewart from Canada writes: Charge them with break & enter, and with whatever else that would be appropriate for what they did if any common criminal did it.

    Its fine if they want to play eco-hero. But they should also be willing to take the consequences, including the criminal records.

    Since their point seems to be to ensure that Syncrdue gets charged over the Famous 500 Ducks, they should make sure the law applies to them too.

    The worst thing possible would be to give them special lenient treatment because of their 'cause.' That would send the wrong mesage and set a very dangerous precedent that too many other rabid idealists might follow.

    Such eco-heroes should be proud of their criminal records. They can play martyr.
  93. Edgar Allen Poe from No City, Canada writes:

    It is so funny reading some of the comments from the Eastern Canadian and American experts who have never set foot in Fort Mac or anywhere near an oilfield lease.

    It is interesting that the reclaimation of the tarsands has begun in earnest at areas already developed but the GTA continues to expropriate some of the most fertile land in the world in order to build strip malls and parking lots.

    Oversimplifying the fact also that if we shut down the tarsands, which contribute 1/6th of 1% of 100% of Canada's worldwide emissions of 2%, than we will prevent Bangladash from sinking and the polar bears from drowning is for simple minds indeed.

    So tell me Eastern Canada, would it be OK for AB to stop sending 17 billion every year to Ottawa in unrealized transfers in order to re-invest the money in CCS and other environmentally friendly research and development technology or is the only acceptable alternative the shutting down of oilsands production?
  94. Guy Fraser from Edmonton, Canada writes: Greenpeace is an Eco-Terrorist organization, they prove it over and over.
    Their followers with diminutive intelligence can not read the articles and do the math themselves, so they just take the rhetoric they are fed at face value, even if it has been proven false after they were fed the line. There is no reason with these nut bars just ignore them when possible, and write your MP, MPP and Mayor when you can not ignore them.
  95. james cyr from Balmertown Ontario, Canada writes: Greenpeace is a disgrace to any group that truely has the environment as its concern. Greenpeace is not run by 'environmentalists' it is run by political activists.
  96. Political Irony is Hilarious from Canada writes: It's fun to see these conservatives so riled up about a bunch of protestors...are they that much of a threat to your ways of over-consumption? If that is the case, then I can understand...afterall when the big bad media (How dare they! Gosh, they MUST be liberal!) is here exposing the destructive practices employed over at the tar sands (yes, tar sands, as calling them 'oil sands' is merely a PR strategy big oil uses, and I openly reject) one needs all the help they can get to defend them.

    By the way martha, yes, Greenpeace already said they know that they will probably be arrested. It's the price one pays for standing up for what is right.

    And a fun bit of irony here: why do all our conservative friends here refer to Greenpeace et al as 'eco-fascists', and yet they cheer and cry for the government to silence them and diffuse all protest? No protesting allowed eh? If that's the kind of democratic society you envision, please exclude me from it, thanks.
  97. Grant Bowen from a higher place, Canada writes: Jeff S from Canada writes: Sorry Globe, it's Terrorism not Activism.

    So I guess the American Revolution was carried out by a bunch of terrorists too, then? Disband the USA! It was created by terrorists!
  98. June from Western Canada from Canada writes: A presiding judge T. Day at a Citizenship Ceremony stated, 'That the only thing that holds this country together, it the rule of Law'. I may dislike my neighbor for having a yard full of derelict cars dripping oil, old appliances and garbage in the yard....but if someone breaks into their house, the perpetraters should be found, tried and punished under the law (weak as it is). Because if you don't uphold the law, then you have anarchy. Greenpeace activists are wrong no matter what their motive. Activists never come up with an alternative to whatever they are protesting...they just like to make headlines and add costs and endangerment to an operation they oppose.
  99. J Law from Canada writes: Political Irony is Hilarious from Canada

    Are you still reviewing the video of Greepeace murdering the Icelandic fisherman with glee?
  100. matt mcnaughton from Edmonton, Canada writes: Communism: totalitarian system driven by class conflict.
    Nazism: totalitarian system driven by race conflict.
    Environmentalism: totalitarian system driven by species conflict.

    Live and let live, Greenpeace. The trees will grow back. Your dignity won't.
    • Posted 24/07/08 at 7:26 PM EST |