Fort MacMurray, 2014
A disproportionate city, a boomtown, a polluted city: Fort McMurray, Alberta (Canada) is the largest energetic project on earth.
Here, in the north of Canada, more than a million and a half of oil barrels are extracted every day day (five millions in 2030).
A great deal of the planet’s energy development fate is at stake. Between people who are in favor of the black gold and its opponents, tensions are rising. Here we are talking billions of dollars, of energetic independency and of ethics choices with almost no return. Canada holds the third largest oil reserve in the world.
Over a few years, the city has grown from tens of thousands to more than of hundred thousand inhabitants. During this same period, temporary workers have joined “workers camps” – according to the last estimate, this “shadowy population” is of more than 23 000 -.
In 2013, the budget of Fort McMurray will exceed billions of dollars. The unique source of the financial windfall is the taxes on oil companies which profits are generating an important part of the Canadian GDP.