The challenge for the province’s government is to work with an industry, already struggling with price cuts, on ways to hold off environmental criticism of the tar sands.
Alberta’s new government is engaged in a balancing act. It’s trying to cut carbon emissions while protecting an oil-sands industry that supports hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Tar sands are found almost exclusively in the western Canadian province. They produce a product that generates about 17 percent more carbon dioxide on average than conventional oil, and emissions in Alberta have risen by more than 53 percent since 1990.
At the same time, oil is the nation’s single most valuable export, making up nearly a fifth of total foreign sales.