A novel bitumen extraction project in the Fort McMurray region is facing significant opposition by the community close to which it is located. 

Drift Resource Technologies, an Okotoks, Alta.-based carbon technology firm, says it developed a mechanical process to access oilsands deposits that significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions, eliminates the need for tailings ponds and allows sites to be reclaimed much earlier. 

But residents of Saprae Creek, a hamlet about 25 kilometres southeast of …