Controversial energy source on agenda for White House

QUESTIONS about developing Alberta's oilsands have seeped into the US presidential campaign and the debate in Canada and the US over keeping down the price of petrol.
The Bush administration sees Alberta as a reliable source of energy that will help reduce reliance on Middle East oil.David Wilkins, the US ambassador to Canada, said the oilsands would define the relationship between the two countries for the next ten years."We are blessed by the fact that our friend and neighbour is also our number-one supplier of foreign oil," Mr Wilkins said.However, the Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's top energy adviser said oilsands emissions were "unacceptably high" and may run counter to Mr Obama's plan to shift the US away from carbon-intensive fossil fuels."The amount of energy that you have to use to get that oil out of the ground is such that it actually creates a much greater impact on climate change, as well as using much more energy than even traditional petroleum," Jason Grumet said.Mining oilsands was also criticised by American mayors at their annual conference in June. They alleged that the oil sands mines damage Canada's boreal forest – boreal refers to the earth's northern zone – and slows the transition to cleaner energy sources in the US.John Baird, Canada's environment minister, warned that Washington would lose energy security if it did not take Alberta's oil."If American mayors want to send their money to unstable, undemocratic countries in the Middle East instead of to Canada, that will be their call. If they want to pay a premium for Iranian, Saudi, Iraqi oil that will be their call," Mr Baird said.