Fantasy v. Reality - Tar Sands

While trying to catch up on my blog reading, I ended up "friending" David Suzuki on facebook.  On his page, discovered that he has used the same "fantasy v. reality" tagline that I've been using.  He uses it with tar sands (or oil sands) issue.  So I'm sharing his graphic:

Source

As usual, the industry paints a pretty picture of how no harm will be done while extracting petroleum from the land in Canada (and also in Russia and Kazakhstan).  Clearly what the engineers and executives envision is far different than the photograph.  

The lake depicted in the drawing is called an End Pit Lake (EPL) where the toxic tailings from the mining process will be pumped and then fresh water will run over it to create a safe, beautiful lake.  However, as Suzuki points out, "I can't imagine any of the engineers or oil executives...building a cottage on an EPL as a place to spend summer months fishing and swimming with loved ones."  Looking at the photograph, I know he's right.