STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES
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Canada's oil-sands boom creates vast riches and a dirty footprint
Big dig for fuel: The vast Albian Sands Energy mine, north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, is a 4.5-square-mile trench carved out of a boreal forest. One of three active mines in the region, Albian produces about 155,000 barrels of bitumen a day. The site is undergoing an expansion that will increase daily output by an additional 100,000 barrels. Fuel extracted from Alberta's oil sands makes up about 9 percent of U.S. crude-oil imports.
