STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES
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Canada's oil-sands boom creates vast riches and a dirty footprint
A web of bitumen floats on top of wastewater in an oil-sands tailings pond at the Albian Sands facility. Explosives and robotic birds of prey are used to scare off birds from landing in the oily water, where they could drown. Canadian environmentalists say it's uncertain whether residual chemicals from the waste ponds will wind up in groundwater.
