16 arrested in Canada Greenpeace protestAuthorities arrested 16 people Sunday after Greenpeace activists scaled three smoke stacks at a Shell operation in their latest action protesting the exploitation of Canada's vast oil sands. Activists from Canada, France, Australia and Brazil occupied part of an upgrader machine Shell is building at its Scotford site in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta Fort Saskatchewan is a city of 14,957 (2006 census) located km ( mi) northeast of downtown Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The two city's boundaries touch across the North Saskatchewan River. History In 1875, under the command of Inspector W.D. to convert oil sands into fuel, the group said in a statement. By the time the protest ended Sunday authorities detained de·tain tr.v. de·tained, de·tain·ing, de·tains 1. To keep from proceeding; delay or retard. 2. To keep in custody or temporary confinement: 16 members, Greenpeace said. Producing tar sand tar sand or bituminous sand Deposit of loose sand or partially consolidated sandstone that is saturated with highly viscous bitumen. Oil recovered from tar sands, commonly referred to as synthetic crude, is a potentially significant form of fossil fuel. oil takes more energy and emits more greenhouse gases than exploiting liquid oil wells. Greenpeace has warned it would increase its protests ahead of key UN-sponsored climate talks in Copenhagen this December. The well-publicized actions especially target Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government, which is seeking to lower targets for greenhouse gas emissions, citing national economic concerns. "The tar sands Tar sands is a common name of what are more properly called bituminous sands, but also commonly referred to as oil sands or (in Venezuela) extra-heavy oil. They are a mixture of sand or clay, water, and extremely heavy crude oil. represent the bleak future that awaits the world if we refuse to listen to science and fail to make significant commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions," said Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner Mike Hudema Micheal George Henry (Mike) Hudema is a Canadian activist, writer, and former candidate for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Background Mike Hudema was born in Medicine Hat, Alberta. . At an estimated 175 billion barrels, Alberta's oil sands are among the largest in the world behind Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia (sä  `dē ərā`bēə, sou`–, sô–), officially Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, kingdom (2005 est. pop. , but they were neglected for years, except by local companies, because of high extraction costs.
Since 2000, skyrocketing crude oil prices and improved extraction methods have made exploitation more economical. 
|
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion