Come! Vacation in the Tar sands! BOOK TODAY!

( Bit backwards here today. This post was written specifically for the DailyKos audience. I am crossposting it here in it's entirety.)

The Big Oil companies here in Canada are really trying to spin the Tar sands in Alberta into something innocent and good...They call it the "Oil sands."

What it really is? One of the most destructive, toxic, and evil projects on the Earth.
The Alberta Oil Lobby has been visiting the US a lot lately, and they have a message: We can sell you the oil you need! We can make it so you need never depend on Saudi Arabia! We can supply the machine!

OTTAWA -- Canada's oil sands producers are tired of their image as environmental bad boys and are fighting back. As their critics get more vocal, the companies have decided to band together to get out the message that they are committed to reducing the environmental damage that results from oil sands development.

The Tar Sands have been a conundrum for quite some time. The methods to extract the oil, have been typically short sighted, and that continues today. But for the real stupid? Read on......

And come back to 1959:

Time magazine archive:

Can a good, solid nuclear explosion separate imprisoned oil from the tight clutch of tar sand? If it can, the world's oil reserves may soon be doubled. The geological proving ground is the 30,000 sq. mi. of tar sands underlying northern Alberta and Saskatchewan in the vicinity of Lake Athabaska. The company that thinks it can turn the trick is California's Richfield Oil Corp., which last week formally asked permission of the Canadian government to set off a nuclear charge just under the Athabaska sands.

For the whole picture? Read William Marsden's Stupid to the Last Drop: How Alberta Is Bringing Environmental Armageddon to Canada (and Doesn't Seem to Care). Good summary at that link.

The Dirty oil companies, have been really trying to convince us how good they are, and how hard they are trying to be cleaner....

Mr. March said the industry is well aware of the environmental challenges it faces as it looks to triple oil sands production over the next decade. He said companies need to communicate better to dispel some "misperceptions" about the oil sands. For example, he said, there is a common but mistaken belief that the oil sands are the largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions in the country. While the sector represents the fastest-growing source, it currently accounts for about 4 per cent of Canada's total emissions.

Shell game?

The Canadian Tar Sands companies have come out fighting and spinning since this happened:

a resolution passed by U.S. mayors calling for a boycott of fuel from Alberta's oilsands.

At their annual meeting in Florida, the American mayors passed a resolution that urges major American cities to ban the use of fuel from the oilsands in municipal vehicles.

And then this:

The presumptive Democratic nominee called oil a “a 19th century fossil fuel that is dirty, dwindling, and dangerously expensive” and said a renewable energy economy was not “some pie-in-the-sky, far-off future, it is now." He said making progress toward energy independence and encouraging clean energy was one of the top three goals of an Obama administration -- along with ending the war in Iraq and reforming the healthcare system.

The Corporate owned media here in Canada, is frantically spinning. Making threats....etc....(That's an "editorial" by CanWest. Really odious media company. More here.) After 500 ducks were killed in one of the giant ponds of toxic ooze (12,000 acres of them) the media tried to help the poor Alberta government portray itself as a "David" to the HUGE ENVIRONMENTAL GOLIATH!
The same toxic oooze that is probably causing all those odd Cancers downriver, in Fort Chipewyan. This was in the news here because of one Doctor who blew the whistle. The Government health ministry tried to censure the good Dr. Backstory, and links here.

This article from Thursday, is hilarious. CannedWest, of course. Written by an Albertan Columnist.

This paragraph: It has loads of dog whistles!!!

But a weird irrationality is taking over U. S. politics on environmental matters and Alberta needs to be cautious about dismissing it as a lunatic fringe of green fanatics worried about dead ducks in the tar ponds. After all, you can forget federal or regional politicians if you want an accurate read on the public mood. The best pulse-taking politicians are the basic old grey mayors.

No matter what they say, they cannot change the facts. And the facts are very clear. The tar sands are destruction on a large scale, they create greenhouse gases in all stages of "recovery" refining, and usage. There is pretty good evidence they are deadly for anyone living within miles of the Tar sands.
They will simply allow us to go on without any change.

Good for Big Oil, bad for the rest of the planets inhabitants.

Watch for a Tar sands spokesman/snake oil salesman in a city near you.
The Tar sands lobby has said, they would so luuuurve to show everyone how wonderful it is in Alberta.
But be sure to watch this video first. Would you like to book this "dream" vacation?