Rolling Stone has a fascinating whistle-blower report from a pipeline worker who has all the inside dirt -- pardon the pun -- on the filthy tar sands business.
Undercover at the Tar Sands describes the insider account of a cesspool of illegal activity, drugs, dead bodies, and obscene amounts of money -- all flowing like black sewage in the bowels of North America. ...
"There's something in the air in Fort McMurray, Alberta -- and it's not just fumes from the massive oil sands processing plants north of town. Spend enough time here, and you'll pick up the pungent scents of machismo and money.
"This is the heart of Canada's controversial tar sands operation. If all goes as planned, this region will soon be sending its bitumen -- the sticky, black petroleum byproduct colloquially known as "tar" -- down the Keystone XL Pipeline. President Obama has yet to give the contentious project the green light, but work in the oil sands shows no sign of slowing down any time soon.
"The region has 80,000 permanent residents, and hosts about 40,000 temporary workers at any given time -- welders, pipefitters, heavy equipment operators, technicians, engineers and other hired hands who pass through Fort McMurray as the work ebbs and flows. I joined them this winter when, after hearing stories about Fort Mac for years, I signed on to help build a massive pipeline (not the Keystone XL).
"I was eager to see the tar sands for myself, experience life in Fort Mac firsthand -- and, let's be honest, I wanted to make some oil money, too. I'm writing this story anonymously to protect my friends, my colleagues and myself."
You have to read the rest of the story, Truthseekers, then ask yourself how our government could even consider the Keystone Pipeline.