-The average person working at the local KFC can make an upwards of $15 per hour.
-The real estate listings are outrageous. The average 3 bedroom house costs $600,000 and the local trailer park houses mobile homes that cost approximately $200,000.
-An entry level oil industry job (requiring only a grade 12 education level) pays $80,000 before bonuses.
-Renting a mid-size van for three days can cost approximately $900
These are just a few of the fascinating facts I have learned since arriving in this town, which is inhabited by about 75,000 people. It is humble and small, but very unique. The community is made up of a very diverse group of people, who come from all over the world. One man said that the reason he came here is because "this is where the money is." That's right--a town of 75,000 people that has one major highway in and out of town, an airport smaller than your average corner store, and a cost of living that resembles that of Orange County in the middle of nowhere is where all the money is.
Why such a boom-town status in the middle of nowhere? The answer is simple--oil equals money.
June 7
Yesterday we caught up with Celina Harpe, a very vocal elder in the Ft. Mackay tribe. Ft. Mackay is located about 20 KM from the oil sands site, right in the heart of oil sands leased lands. The people live in a community of about 300 people on the bank of the Athabasca River (which also runs right through oil sands country).
We were able to get Celina's name from Mike Hudema at Greenpeace, and she has been interviewed by media ranging from National Geographic to the New York Times. She is very vocal and very concerned about the social implications resulting from oil sands development. She talked about how the tribal leaders are corrupt and don't pay attention to the health problems in the communities, but rather keep their mouths shut while they profit from associations with the oil companies.
I nearly broke down in tears listening to this woman tell her community's story of suffering. She told one story of all the school children falling down ill from an unknown cloud of toxins that blew in from the oil sands area. She said children were passing out and being rushed to the hospital from the odor, and she has no clue what it is from (other than blaming Suncor and Syncrude operations). She said nothing happened as a result of the incident--no apology even. It broke my heart that she cares so much, but no matter how vocal she has been nothing will make a difference.
This woman was old, but she was very sharp. She wasn't optimistic about change coming to the region, and that made me very sad. She is so passionate, yet she has given up all hope. Despite her lack of optimism, she said that her "big mouth" is still running, and she will never stop telling the community what she believes in. I am meeting so many people with so many meaningful stories to tell, and I am so happy that I can lend a hand in giving them a platform to be heard.
June 8
Today was the day that I got to see what it was I have been researching and talking about for months. We were picked up by a Syncrude representative in a giant, private charter bus at our Quality Inn hotel just outside downtown Ft. Mac. The woman was just as I would have expected--slender, up-kept, very well dressed and decked out in a nice Syncrude winter coat. The first question she asked us before we even left was "So what preconceived notions are you coming with today?" I was very taken aback with that introduction.
We drove to the Syncrude headquarters, where our tour guide briefed us on the general history behind the operations. We learned some of the fun facts I mentioned earlier, including the fact that her husband (who works on both of Syncrude's private jets as a mechanic) is the highest paid airplane mechanical engineer in all of North America. Everyone makes good money in this town.
However, there are some downfalls--our tour guide said that she talked with her sister about income taxes the other day over the telephone (her sister lives in Newfoundland). Our tour guide pays more in income tax than her sister makes in an entire year--income tax in Ft. Mac is the equivalent of an average woman's yearly salary! This place is like no other, clearly.
After a brief overview of Syncrude operational history and structure, we loaded back onto the bus to drive through one of the main mines on the Syncrude site. I thought it would be quite the drive to get out to the site, but I was wrong. The tailings ponds, the mining pits, the plants...all of it can be seen from the road. There isn't even a prominent, distinguished barrier separating this industrial wasteland from the main highway.
We drove through security and saw the bitumen (the hard, sand resource that holds oil deposits) being sifted through a machine to begin the separation process (*add hot water which then separates the sand from the oil for upgrading to crude). It didn't seem to be too daunting--until we left the plant and reached the mine site.
Words cannot describe what this place looks like. Trucks called earth movers, which range from 150 to 400 tons, drove alongside our bus like we were in another dimension. We reached the North viewpoint and all you could see were sulfur stacks (*sulfur is one of the main waste products extracted during the upgrading process) and dozens of earth movers changing the landscape like it was nothing. One 400 ton earth mover filled with bitumen and sand weighs as much as a Boeing 747, and it is the height and width of a Walgreens.
The tailings ponds (which are the water wastes that remain after the bitumen is broken and the oil separates from the sand) are massive and settle right next to the highway and "reclaimed" land. Syncrude's tour lady explained the reclaimation efforts made by the company. They take land that they previously dug up on the mine site (called "overburden") and plant new life over the top of it. To "prove" that it can naturally sustain a sustainable ecosystem, Syncrude has partnered with Ft. Mackay First Nations to raise and maintain bison on the reclaimed land.
This "reclaimation" is anything but, in my opinion. Surrounding this ranch-like set up is the decades-old tailings pond (which also is surrounded by canons that go off every two seconds to scare off birds) and a fence to keep the bison under close monitoring. To me, this is a poor example of restoring land to its natural state. Apparently we have perfected the role of playing God in Alberta--humans take giant trucks, literally move earth to an entirely new location, and attempt to restart an ecosystem that took thousands of years to develop. And we are worried about stem cell research why? It seems this operation is a far more dangerous attempt to play God than that.
I could talk forever about the sites, smells, and sounds of the oil sands, but a picture is worth a thousand words (and I have tons of those!)
Family Physician, Full-time Advocate
Following our tour that ended with a free lunch with the Oil Sands Developers Group president, we were lucky enough to interview Dr. John O'Connor later in the evening. He is a prominent family physician that works with local tribes surrounding the oil sands region. He has especially close ties with Ft. Chipewyan, and is working around the clock here (16-24 hour shifts) treating local First Nations patients.
He is very vocal about the high rate of rare form of bile duct cancer in this community, which he believes is associated with the oil sands development. He said that he has personally seen about 3 cases in this community of 1,200 when in reality one would only see this type of cancer 1 in every 100,000 people. He has been in numerous articles and documentaries, and actually almost lost his license to practice regarding an investigation of causing undue alarm. The charges were immediately dropped following the investigation.
What was so powerful about this man's interview was his humble nature. He said that he used to fear talking to himself, and now he can speak "without script" to hundreds of people because he is so moved by his cause to create a grassroots effort for progress and change. He wants citizens to know about the sufferings in this community, and whether or not it is connected with industry, he simply wants someone to do something about it and own up to the responsibility of finding out the cause of these severe health problems.
Once again, I have met someone with a very profound cause and story. This man cares about what he does so much, but doesn't want anything but change and care. He could care less about the attention, the praise, or the thanks. All he wants is for the people of Ft. Chip to be healthy and happily reclaim their culture. He worked all day, went to meetings and emergency calls at the hospital mid-interview, works again tomorrow for 16 hours, and still made time after 9:00 p.m. to talk with my team. He said our project "refreshes" his cause. Again I say, I wish I could care about anything that much.
I have said to much...now pictures can speak for themselves...
