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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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New lifecycle analysis of WTW GHG emissions of diesel and gasoline refined in US from Canadian oil sands crude

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In a new, comprehensive study, a team from Argonne National Laboratory, Stanford University and UC Davis ITS has estimated the well-to-wheels (WTW) GHG emissions of US production of gasoline and diesel sourced from Canadian oil sands. g CO 2 e/MJ for US conventional crude oil recovery. This range can be compared to ∼4.4

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

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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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New study finds GHG emissions from palm oil production significantly underestimated; palm oil biofuels could be more climate-damaging than oil sands fuels

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The majority (62%) of the plantations were located on the island of Sumatra, and more than two-thirds (69%) of all industrial plantations were developed for oil palm cultivation, with the remainder mostly being Acacia plantations for paper pulp production. Earlier post.). —Dr.

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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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Suncor targeting 1M barrels per day by 2020, some 80% from oil sands; new strategic alliance with Total

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Suncor is targeting 1 million barrels per day output in 2020, with its growth in the oil sands underpinned by its alliance with Total. Approximately 80% of that production will be from the oil sands. The agreement with Total is an important element of Suncor’s plans to more than double our oil sands production.

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EIA projects world energy use to increase 53% by 2035; oil sands/bitumen and biofuels account for 70% of the increase in unconventional liquid fuels

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Worldwide energy consumption will grow by 53% between 2008 and 2035 with much of the increase driven by strong economic growth in the developing nations, especially China and India, according to the reference case in the newly released International Energy Outlook 2011 (IEO2011) from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

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