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US BLM issues draft PEIS for oil shale and oil sands; significantly scales back public land available for commercial leasing

Green Car Congress

The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has published the Notice of Availability (NOA) of the Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) and Possible Land Use Amendments for Allocation of Oil Shale and Tar Sands Resources on Lands Administered by the BLM in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.

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Shell launches commercial operation of Quest carbon capture and storage in Alberta oil sands

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Using activated amine (ADIP-X), Quest will capture one-third of the CO 2 emissions from Shell’s Scotford Upgrader, which turns oil sands bitumen into synthetic crude that can be refined into fuel and other products. Te Storage zone is a formation called Basal Cambrian Sands (BCS).

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Utah Water Quality Board upholds issuance of permit for oil sands mine in Utah

Green Car Congress

The Utah Water Quality Board, in a 9-2 vote this week, agreed with the August 2012 recommendations of an administrative law judge (ALJ) upholding a permit-by-rule issued by the Division of Water Quality (DWQ) for the proposed PR Spring an oil sands mine on state land in eastern Utah. USOS bitumen extraction process. Source: USOS.

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Suncor Energy Receives Conditional Regulatory Approval for Oil Sands Tailings Management Plan; Projected 30% Reduction in Volume

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Suncor Energy has received conditional approval for its oil sands fluid tailings management plan from Alberta’s Energy Resources Conservation Board ( ERCB ). Tailings are a mixture of fine clay, sands, water and residual bitumen produced through the oil sands extraction process, and are held in massive “ponds”.

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US State Department Issues Permit for Alberta Clipper Pipeline for Oil Sands Crude Delivery to US

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The US State Department has issued a Presidential Permit to Enbridge Energy, Limited Partnership to enable construction of the Alberta Clipper pipeline for the transport of crude oil from the Canadian oil sands to US refineries. This week, the RFA happened to issue two pieces, each touching on the impact of oil sands production.

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State Department issues Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on Keystone XL Pipeline: climate change impacts

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The US Department of State (DOS) has released its Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) in response to TransCanada’s May 2012 application for the Keystone XL pipeline that would run from Canada’s oils sands in Alberta to Nebraska. The pipeline would primarily transport crude oil from the WCSB and Bakken regions.

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US State Department to issue Final EIS on Keystone XL pipeline in August; additional meetings in affected states

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Following the issuance of a Final EIS, the next step is a 90-day review period where interested federal agencies, such as the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency, will provide their views on whether issuance of a Presidential Permit would be in the national interest.

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