Leaked Document Highlights Disconnect Between Corporations, Environmental Activists
A leaked document written by the global intelligence company Stratfor is a poignant lesson in the deep disconnect between environmental activists and corporations on the ongoing controversy of tar sands oil extraction.
Created for the petroleum giant Suncor, the Power Point presentation released Nov. 22 by WikiLeaks reads like a how-to manual for counteracting activism around the subject of tar sand production, of which Suncor is a major player. While Bartholomew Mongoven, a former Stratfor employee whose name appears on the opening and closing slide, declined to comment and Suncor denied either hiring Stratfor or the firm presenting it to them, leaked emails written to and from Mongoven name Suncor as a client and mention a payment of nearly $15,000.
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Thick and muddy, crude oil from Alberta's tar sands is far heavier and impurity-filled than any other kind of oil, meaning more energy has to be expended to extract and process it. All told, oil from tar sands produces an estimated 14-20 percent more greenhouse gas emissions throughout its entire lifecycle - from extraction to use - than other types of oil the United States imports, according to a March report by the Congressional Research Service.
Looking at satellite data of the region around the Alberta tar sands dating from 2005-2010, researchers from Environment Canada, the country's environmental agency, said they detected levels of nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide roughly equivalent to those seen over large power plants or medium-sized cities. Comparing the data year by year, the scientists found the nitrogen dioxide kept pace with the growth of the tar sands industry, increasing by some 10 percent each year.
http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/5264/20131212/wikileaks-revelation-highlights-disconnect-between-corporations-environmental-activists.htm