I work the oilsands at Suncor where we pull close to 350,000 barrels per day out of the mud. Nice place to live... if you can find a place to live.
There's things you see out here that make the world seem insane. When the only way in or out of Mcmurray was engulfed in a 2 week firestorm forest fire the air force was flying barrels of diesel in hercules up here to keep the oil going south. No beer, little food in the groceries, no gasoline anywhere in town, but the project keeps running flat out.
Every Sunday at midnight the heavy move rigs that have been amassing the equipment and massive modular components along the road south of town fire up for the weekly push. All the stoplights and over-road signs on the main drag of town are unbolted and spun out of the way, making room for the hundreds to thousands of tons of steel. They make thier way up supertest hill like a chain of ants carrying a lego set, into the production plants at Suncor and Syncrude. They leave over the next week empty, nothing ever going south.
Greenpeace is coming out here now because the hippies in our next door province of British Columbia (which I regretably grew up in) has now started doing a bit of protesting out here. Hard to do because they usually end up taking a job offer for a few thousand a month in a diner or pump gas for $15 an hour with full benifits and an rsp incentive.
The cost of living here is insane, but if you're smart and resourceful, AND come with a bit of money to get off to a start, you can do well. There is nothing but work and money, you've got to literally trade your current life for your future. If you get into the drugs like a lot of the workers do here you're a goner, same goes for the gambling and drinking. There is nowhere else in the world you can see so many people making so much money and have nothing at all to show for it.
I'm a 31 year old private contractor making close to $120K per year ($126,368 USD :P ). I'd be making about $30K anywhere else.
Check the sands out on google earth, just type in 'oilsands'.
