After an exhaustive study of air and water pollution along the Athabasca River and its tributaries from Fort McMurray to Lake Athabasca, researchers say pollution levels have increased as a direct result of nearby oil sands operations.

FORT CHIPEWYAN, Alberta _ Like a great silver snake, the Athabasca River glides though a spongy-wet wilderness of spindly forests, lakes and marshes 650 miles north of the U.S.-Canada border. Breathe deeply, though, and you catch a whiff of fresh, hot tar.

By Tom Knudson, The Sacramento Bee, Calif. Dec. 9--FORT CHIPEWYAN, Alberta -- Like a great silver snake, the Athabasca River glides though a spongy-wet wilderness of spindly forests, lakes and marshes 650 miles north of the U.S.-Canada border.

By Bob Weber, THE CANADIAN PRESS EDMONTON - A northern Alberta aboriginal band is demanding a moratorium on new development along the Athabasca River after a new study suggested the river they depend on for food and water is contaminated with arsenic, mercury and carcinogens.

By Stephen Leahy* BROOKLIN, Canada, Jul. 21, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Money, energy and water - incredible quantities of them -- are the three key ingredients that have made it possible to ship a million barrels of oil a day from northern Alberta's oil sands to the United States and other markets.