Driving Oil Sands
Sabrina Fang
Posted August 22, 2011
Picture a small, but comfortable two-story house - on four wheels. Now fill in all the rooms in the house with 400 tons of bitumen-laden sand and rock, and that's what it's like to be in one of the haulers at Suncor's oil sands mine in Alberta, Canada. Here's a video from my recent tour of Suncor's operation that focuses on just one of the well-paying jobs associated with oil sands:
Oil sands is a double-bonus for the United States, a source of secure energy - up to 830,000 barrels of oil a day after the bitumen is melted out of the surrounding material, from a neighbor and ally - and jobs.
Research indicates 80,000 direct or indirect U.S. jobs by 2020 and more than 500,000 by 2035 from fully developing Canadian oil sands. Full development means construction of the Keystone XL pipeline to deliver the oil to U.S. refiners.
Check back for more jobs and energy video from Canada.
About The Author
Sabrina Fang is an API media relations representative. Before joining API she worked for the Washington Humane Society and was a reporter for Tribune Broadcasting and covered the White House for seven years. Fang studied broadcast journalism at Syracuse University before starting her career. She enjoys reading, watching movies and spending time with family.