A multi-stakeholder committee of representatives from government, the petroleum industry, First Nations, and environmental organizations has been formed to develop a "vision" for the future of the oil sands, and has begun public consultation meetings across Alberta.

Everything about the oil sands is massive. An estimated 175 billion barrels of recoverable crude reserves - placing Canada second in the world behind Saudi Arabia - are held within an area larger than the state of Florida. 1.1 million barrels of bitumen are produced daily, and that figure is expected to triple by 2016. Industry has announced approximately $87 billion of investment in oil sands projects from 1996 through to 2016.

 The Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (MEEA) is pleased to announce Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as its keynote speaker at the 2006 Midwest Energy Solutions Conference. This year's theme is Empowerment so it seems appropriate that one of the nation's most prominent defenders of the environment would keynote this important conference. The conference will be held September 27-28, with Mr. Kennedy's keynote scheduled for September 27 at 9 a.m.

"We are thrilled to have Mr. Kennedy address our forum," stated Alecia Ward, MEEA president. "His presence at the conference signifies the importance of energy efficiency in these times of high fuel prices, dwindling supply, and impending threat from global warming. The 2006 Energy Solutions Conference provides not only a forum but real solutions to the energy problems faced by the Midwest and the nation."

 Today, the Summit County Government and the High Country Conservation Center celebrated a milestone when the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) became the first recycling facility in the country to be recognized by the Green Building Initiative's (GBI) Green Globes(TM) environmental assessment and rating system for commercial buildings.

GBI executive director Ward Hubbell presented local leadership with a plaque recognizing the building's rating of Two Green Globes at the facility's grand opening. The building, which is also the first facility of its kind in the U.S. to be built green, was recognized for its merits in heat recovery, the use of salvaged and recycled materials and the maximization of daylighting.

 In the keynote address this morning to the Richard G. Lugar-Purdue University Summit on Energy Security, at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Dick Lugar calls for dramatic and immediate action to address U.S. energy vulnerability.

"Neither American oil companies, nor American car companies have shown an inclination to dramatically transform their businesses in ways that will achieve the degree of change we need to address a national security emergency," Lugar says in the address. "Most importantly, the federal government is not treating energy vulnerability as a crisis, despite an increase in energy related proposals."

"To this end, the United States should adopt a national program that would make virtually every new car sold in America a flexible fuel vehicle. We should ensure that at least one quarter of filling stations in America have E85 pumps. We should expand ethanol production to 100 billion gallons a year by 2025, a figure that could be achieved by doubling output every five years. We should also create an approximate $45 per barrel price floor on oil through a variable ethanol tax credit to ensure that investments keep flowing to alternatives. And we should enact stricter vehicle mileage standards to point automobile innovation toward conservation. The plan I am proposing today would achieve the replacement of 6.5 million barrels of oil per day by volume - the rough equivalent of one third of the oil used in America and one half of our current oil imports," he says.