Canada wrests oil from sands, but at what cost?

AURORA MINE, Alberta (Reuters) – Canada’s vast oil sands, the biggest source of oil outside Saudi Arabia, don’t give up their riches easily.

Mining the earth for molasses-like bitumen that can be turned to oil involves clearing vast swaths of land, stripping off layers of soil and digging out lake-sized holes with giant shovels that scoop up to 56 cubic yards of material a swing.

The world’s largest haul trucks — house-sized monsters with wheels the size of pick-up trucks — ship the muck away for crushing and mixing with hot water before further extraction and upgrading. The start-up costs are huge, but with oil around $70 a barrel, the rewards are large as well.

But while the black gold brings billions of dollars to the oil firms and the province of Alberta, critics say the operations are taking too big a toll on the environment.

Reuters