“Canada is on the verge of a major national unity crisis over the environment that will make past constitutional wrangles seem bush league, former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed says.”

Lougheed believes that Albertans will be torn over their concerns for the environment and the importance of their oilsands.

Ecotec, a north western firm in London has developed a method to turn the by-products from chocolate manufacturing to biodiesel.

A heavy storm on Sunday in the northern mouth of the Black Sea sank five ships, including an oil tanker and caused havoc on several others. Oil from the broken tanker killed seabirds and clogged nearby beaches.

Source: The Dilbert Blog

“As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, the news is full of stories about promising new technologies that will reduce dependence on foreign oil. I don’t think you can get a full sense of the potential until you see a comprehensive list of all the “might happens.” So let’s create one.”

“The environmental groups – ForestEthics, Greenpeace, Environmental Defence and the Western Canada Wilderness Committee – are opposed to any increase in activity in extracting oil from the sandy forests of northern Alberta. They say the federal government should impose caps on emissions from oil-sands development or shut down the northern Alberta industry.”

“Ottawa will unveil new climate-change regulations this week that would force new oil sands projects and coal-fired electricity plants to capture and store the bulk of their greenhouse gases rather than spew them into the air.”

Environment Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada have issued three charges against Canadian National Railway Co.for a 2005 oil spill. The charges are laid for “allegedly depositing a substance harmful to migratory birds into Wabamun Lake,” and “alleged disruption or destruction of a fish habitat.”

New company responds to a global oil crisis and ethanol’s demands on food stocks by looking to the benefits offered by algae for limiting our CO2 emissions. Examines the potentially huge benefits for harvesting algae to be used as a biofuel.

Climate change will put a strain on Alberta’s availability of freshwater, as the province is already experiencing higher average rates of evaporation compare to precipitation. Alberta only shares 2.2% of Canada’s freshwater but 80% of that is in the north where the big water consumers are the oil-sand producers.