Syncrude Aurora Oil Sands Mine, north of Fort McMurray, Canada
This industry digs bitumen-laced sand from the ground with electric shovels five stories high, then washes the bitumen off the sand with hot water and sometimes caustic soda.
(A comment from an anti-tar sands (oil sand) campaigner in Canada who felt compelled to comment on what we suspect may be taking place here in T&T... We must find out what is really going on people, if anyone reading this can help us untangle this web, please contact
triniecowarrior@facebook.com so I can share it with the rest of us who are working to raise awareness on this issue.)
THE COMMENT:-
"I immediately want to stress that nothing *official* yet connects the tar sands and the highway. All we have is logic and heavy circumstantial evidence.
The southeast section of the tar sands "area of interest" referred to here...
(on page five of this presentation):
http://www.energy.gov.tt/content/244.pdf...is close to where the controversial section of highway would start near Mon Desir, but the deposits of tar sands themselves actually stretch much further than the area listed in the first block indicated as the "area of interest" in this presentation. The deposit actually stretches well beyond, all the way to Fyzabad, and will likely take some Forest Reserve as well.
The southern end of the section of highway that is being contested by the Highway Re-route Movement will link up near Mon Desir, at Delhi Road. (The plan calls it the Mon Desir Interchange)
The stretch of highway that runs east of San Fernando's densely populated area, before the Debe interchange, could then be used to bring in heavy truck traffic from the area where the rest of the infrastructure upgrades are happening that could facilitate tar sand mining and processing.
You do not need to know if everything is being planned for tar sands, the point is that everything tar sands need is being planned.
The gas power-station, the desalination plant on the other side of the road, the recent major upgrades to the Point-a-Pierre refinery and of course the contract awarded to Reliance Energy of India to construct an Upgrader. An "upgrader," cracks the tarry bitumen and converts it into Syncrude Sweet Blend, a synthetic crude that travels down a pipeline to refineries.
Upgraders are specifically integral to bitumen production and accompany all tar sand mines here in Canada. This contract has declared tar sands part of the plan.
The southern end of the contested section of highway starts, (at the Mon Desir interchange) very close to the eastern limits of the large bitumen deposits if we are to go by the presentation we looked at earlier. This section of road has few people living nearby, (and will have even less, after re-locations and flooding) and will likely be dominated by large trucks and excavators.
The $64,000 question is; Where is the Indian company, Reliant Energy going to build the new upgrader? They must have a location. Already you can show that the Highway Re-route Movement's contested section of highway could easily be connected to the tar sands deposits. If then, you can show that the upgrader is to be connected to the Point-a-Pierre refinery via this or another existing section of highway, that makes the tar sands development you fear, a near certainty.
The fact is, all of this massive equipment (trucks and excavators) would benefit from a stretch of highway that is almost on top of the deposit, and if so, that section of highway would likely not see as much local civilian traffic as would the northern route, along the coast, to Debe. Also, it could essentially mean that they are attempting to build a network of roads to connect the tar sands deposits to the refinery at Point-a-Pierre.
The equipment for tar sands mining is some of the largest on the planet.
In Alberta, when one of the mines brings in new equipment, the highway is either temporarily shut down to the public, or more commonly is forced down to about one-fifth the speed, following flashing lights and so on.
I would call this speculation borne out of experience with energy developments around tar sands, and the actions of the Trinidad & Tobago government (current PP and prior PNM), up to and including the change in rhetoric to mimic the style used here in Canada.
This change in rhetoric took place immediately following meetings between our prime minister Stephen Harper and yours, Kamla Persad-Bissessar (along with your minister of energy, Kevin Ramnarine) in Cartagena, Colombia earlier this year.
An article in one of your daily newspapers, the Guardian, spoke of Canada offering assistance to Trinidad & Tobago with tar sands and more. They started that newspaper article with talk of 'security' help from Canada and closed it with talk of help for your health system from Canada, the tar sands mention was neatly squeezed between these two completely unrelated topics. (See for yourself, click the link below.)
http://www.guardian.co.tt/business/2012 ... lth-summitIn an even earlier article, the Express newspaper describes energy minister Kevin Ramnarine as a 'crusader' in your nation's search for new oil, while simultaneously saying that "energy authorities' eyes brighten at the estimate of 2 billion barrels waiting to be extracted." (Again, don't take it from me, click the link below.)
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/commenta ... 16925.htmlIn Canada, we realised the seriousness of the risks incurred with tar sand extraction after the industry was well established. That means we are not going to have an easy fight to stop tar sand mining here.
The people of Trinidad & Tobago need to sit up now, and pay attention to what may be taking place right under their noses. It's not too late for public pressure to put a stop to this terrible idea."
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