Oil sands brings prosperity and growing pains

By Tonya Zelinsky Fort McMurray Canada

 07 June 2012 22:59 GMT

There are no open pit-mines in Fort McMurray. The rivers are not tailings ponds and the parks are not in-situ operations. Fort McMurray is just like any other growing city in North America except for one big difference — it lives next door to Canada’s oil sands.

At the heart of Northern Alberta’s massive Athabasca oil sands region, the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (RMWB) — home to Fort McMurray and nine other halmets — is considered one of Canada’s largest municipalities and fastest-growing communities. With growth comes growing pains that the municipality finds hard to keep up with, says executive director of stakeholder relations, Michael Evans.

Since 1996 the region’s population has grown from 35,000 to anywhere between 65,000 and 101,000, depending on which 2011 federal or municipal census you believe.



Sky-high demand “That makes a huge…

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