Last segment of my summer 2016 trip, Fort Mac
Upon leaving the USA, we flew from Houston Texas to Edmonton, arriving late in the evening. I spent 2 nights and a day at my son and daughter in laws and then flew from Edmonton to Fort McMurray. Evidence of the major forest fire earlier in the year was clearly seen flying in! My eldest grandson was there to meet me and drove me into town for a bite of lunch and then to see his place. One of his friends, a lady who pulled some strings, made arrangements to get me a tour of their worksite on the tar sands. I was geared up with work boots, a safety vest, goggles, hard hat and gloves, plus a guest tag with my info on it and we soon had a company truck to use on our tour! And what an interesting tour it was. Cameras aren't allowed so I was able to enjoy listening and looking at what they were describing and showing me! You can google information on the tar sands to learn more about how it is mined, extracted, processed and its impact on the environment if you are interested. Good or bad, you can educate yourself and judge for yourself. I saw reclaimed lands and honestly, you would never know that area had been mined!
My first introduction was to the type of haul truck my grandson drives. There is a photo of one like it below. These trucks have two sets of stairs to reach the cab. They are massive monsters for hauling the tar sands to the machine that processes it. They will never be used as race cars, they just don't travel very fast! Next, the ginormous bulldozer similar to the one in the photo below which was driven by my new friend Jody! She explained how this machine was used to remove the topsoil and put it in a safe place for later reclamation, and when and how it was used to push the tar sands across and then straight down the bank to the waiting machine with the big scoop to lift it into the waiting trucks. Nerves of steel are a definite asset for these dozer operators. It was fascinating watching the dozer and then we went to look at the settling ponds. There are motion activated shotguns around the perimeter to keep any birds or wildlife away and they work really well. We followed one of the dump trucks to the big moveable machine, I think they called it a train, where the trucks dumped their load for removal of the tar like substance. Once this was extracted, the sands were taken back to dry our and settle for reclamation. The tar like substance will still require further processing and be sent to the big plants in Edmonton to complete the process.
Such an interesting day and it certainly gave me a much better concept of how all this happens. We've all heard the people who object to this mining and emphasize its impact on the environment, yet they still drive vehicles and rely on all the products made from the by products of this technology. I don't know the answer, and I'm not ready to give up.all the things I use every day......check this out.....http://whgbetc.com/petro-products.pdf!!!
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