Great Lakes

Environmental costs, financial costs, political costs - - you name it and it's causing tar sand exploitation to slow down in Canada and come under greater scrutiny on both sides of the US-Canada border.

That doesn't mean that Murphy Oil still isn't dreaming of that $6-$7 billion expansion to accept and refine tar sand oil at its Superior facility, a project that some state elected officials tout as compatible with a pristine Lake Superior, unpolluted wetlands and clean air, too.

One report predicted inevitable Great Lakes pollution from the tar sand industry, as refineries sprout and expand on the shorelines.

Extracting oil from tar sand is extremely energy/water/land-intensive, hence the product's reputation as dirty and expensive.

Refineries in Indiana and Michigan are also slated to accept tar sand oil shipments for refining.

There are 30 additional posts on this blog about tar sand oil. Use the search box on the left at the top of the homepage.

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For those of you keeping score, and shaking your head about the harm we have allowed to happen to these Great Lakes.

Thanks to the Great Lakes Blogger Dave Dempsey, who has been sounding these alarms far longer than have I.

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I grew up in Maryland and spent a lot of time on the Chesapeake Bay: the ruination of the water's quality and its fisheries is a crime that bears remembering as the Great Lakes are corrupted by invasive species, pollution and developmental disregard.

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The Journal Sentinel devotes big space to a take-out on the Murphy Oil refinery expansion issue in Superior, and delves into the Canadian tar sand pipelines, too.

Part II is tomorrow.

The package is the work of Great Lakes specialist Dan Egan, and as we've come to expect from Egan, the work is comprehensive and important.

It's not pegged to the news, as sources have said for months, and I've mentioned this while blogging on the subject, that the possible Murphy expansion seems to be hold for two reasons, both financial;

The capital costs of a major refinery expansion - - perhaps $6 billion - - in an economy where borrowing any sum is problematic.

Also the falling price of crude oil with shrinking demand worldwide makes extracting the gooey tar sand oil in Alberta too expensive to turn much of a profit.

Not to mention the environmental damage to Alberta.

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Aboard a long, Great Lakes freighter, the historic publication scans all the relevant issues.

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