Support the Dominion Support the Dominion Alberta is replete
with precious oil. Recovery of that oil from the tar sands,
however, is putting another precious resource at risk: water.
Dene and Cree First Nations people live close to and in the
midst of the largest tar sand deposit in the Athabasca River
region and oil extraction is harming their water supply. The
recoverable oil reserves in Alberta's tar sands are so bountiful
that they vie with oil reserves in Saudi Arabia and Venezuela
for top status. Compared to Saudi Arabia, however, the oil
extraction process is very expensive. What is extracted is
bitumen, a form of crude oil, mixed with clay and silica that
must be refined to produce a barrel of oil. Current high oil
prices make the extraction and refinement of bitumen very
profitable. Scientists at the University of Toronto and the
University of Alberta have warned that the excessive water
demand will result in the disappearance of the Athabasca River,
having a devastating impact on the largest boreal