After Keystone XL, oil companies seeking outlet for Alberta Tar Sands oil via Vancouver

Here in the U.S. we effectively killed the Keystone XL project.  Aren’t we proud of ourselves?  We held anti-Keystone XL rallies in front of the White House and elsewhere, and got Obama to reject the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.  That should mean the end of the tar sands crude oil plans, right?  That icky stuff should be remaining safe in Alberta?  Nope.  Sorry.  The oil companies are taking an end-run through even more sensitive territory.  Namely, over the mountains, through the woods, and into Vancouver where it will be loaded on ships to be sold to China.Here’s a map.

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The tar sands are in Alberta, shipping ports in Vancouver.  The original route had been south across the Plains states to shipping terminals in the Southern U.S.  The new route is across these mountains, to shipping terminals in Vancouver.  The end goal is the same, sale of this crude oil on the world market, the difference is the route.

This route goes across many miles of pristine wilderness and native peoples lands.  It goes across the headwaters of two rivers that each have the largest Salmon runs in North America.

Here’s a map of the Vancouver area:

Notice that for ships to get in and out of Vancouver requires navigating a long set of passages between islands that head into the sounds which connect between Seattle and Vancouver.

Below is audio from Radio Ecoshock which did an excellent job covering this in a recent episode.  The people in the episode speak about these issues much better than I can.  Listen to them.

But first is video of a young lady singing a song …

And the same young lady speaking at a TEDx meeting

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About David Herron

David Herron is a writer and software engineer living in Silicon Valley. He primarily writes about electric vehicles, clean energy systems, climate change, peak oil and related issues. When not writing he indulges in software projects and is sometimes employed as a software engineer. David has written for sites like PlugInCars and TorqueNews, and worked for companies like Sun Microsystems and Yahoo.

About David Herron

David Herron is a writer and software engineer living in Silicon Valley. He primarily writes about electric vehicles, clean energy systems, climate change, peak oil and related issues. When not writing he indulges in software projects and is sometimes employed as a software engineer. David has written for sites like PlugInCars and TorqueNews, and worked for companies like Sun Microsystems and Yahoo.

One Comment

  1. alexandramorton.typepad.com

    I can't commend anyone more than Alexandra, a marine biologist who has organized wildsalmonpeople to confront the BC and Norway governments about the line of Norwegian fish farms herding diseased and sea lice infested Atlantic salmon across the mouth of the Fraser River.
    They threaten the existence of the whole west coast wild salmon run.

    Add the pipeline… ugly.

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