Fox Creek, Alberta
| Fox Creek | |||
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| Location in Alberta | |||
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| State : |
 Canada
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| Province : | Alberta | ||
| Region: | Northern Alberta | ||
| Coordinates : | 54 ° 24 ′ N , 116 ° 48 ′ W | ||
| Height : | 808 m | ||
| Area : | 11.54 km² | ||
| Residents : | 1969 (as of 2011) | ||
| Population density : | 170.6 inhabitants / km² | ||
| Time zone : | Mountain Time ( UTC − 7 ) | ||
| Postal code : | T0H 1P0 | ||
Fox Creek is a Canadian municipality in the Northern Alberta region of the Province of Alberta with a population of about 2000. It is located at an altitude of 800 meters, about 260 km northwest of Edmonton and is a center for the extraction of oil and gas from oil sands by fracking .
history
The settlement Fox Creek was founded in the 1950s during the construction of Highway 43 and in the 1980's to the city ( town applicable). In 1957, oil was discovered in the region. Additional oil and gas fields were developed in the 1960s. Many young workers immigrated as a result of the "Bonanza in Alberta". Until the oil price fell in 2014/15, the population grew to 10,000 to 15,000 each winter (so-called “shadow population” by seasonal workers in the oil industry).
economy
Chevron , BP Amoco and Petro-Canada are investing heavily in oil and gas production through fracking through SemCAMS - the region's largest employer. Forestry and the provision of logistics and services for the oil industry in the surrounding areas are other important economic factors. Fox Creek has a small airport.
ecology
Due to the high water consumption through fracking, the city has problems with the lower water table. Fracking also causes a lot of effort through the treatment and subsequent landfilling of the toxic drilling mud . On January 22, 2015, 33 km west of the town, the strongest (or second strongest?) Earthquake ever caused by human hands was measured with a magnitude of 4.4 on the Richter scale. The trigger is considered to be the up to three kilometers deep rock drillings and blasts due to high water pressure, long horizontal drillings in the oil sands and the enormous water extraction in other places. No damage was recorded in the sparsely populated area.
Individual evidence
- ^ City data from Fox Creek
- ↑ Photos of the landfill
- ↑ Alberta researchers say fracking triggered earthquakes near Fox Creek , CBC Television , November 17, 2016