A
northern Alberta highway overlooks an oilsands
plant that employees jokingly call Mount
Doom, a nickname drawn from the apocalyptic
images in Lord of the Rings.
The plant is a maze of pipes and steaming
buildings, with a towering smoke stack and
fire jumping out of a gas flaring pipe.
Nearby ponds are filled with black wastewater
from the plant.
But scenes like Mount Doom have brought
a fresh Alberta boom.
Signs of increasing wealth can even be
found 700 kilometres to the south in Edmonton,
home to Canada's oilpatch players.
New Hummers squeeze through traffic. Sales
of luxury homes have jumped more than 125
per cent over a year. Edmonton retailers
are stocking — and selling —
$5,000 single malt scotch whiskey and $180,000
home theatres.
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