Seattle Times: In the giant, open-pit mines north of this sub-Arctic boomtown, oil literally is carved out of the ground. Shovels the size of buildings scoop hundreds of tons of oil-soaked dirt into Caterpillar dump trucks as big as two-story houses. The trucks move to and from the pits in a perpetual storm of dust. Everything in the Canadian oil sands — from the machinery to the seemingly infinite oil reserves — is extra large. “This is mining to the max — it’s very extreme,” said Brian …