Seeing as Canada is doing little to curb the destruction being wrought on the boreal forest by Alberta’s tar sands development or the staggering amount of waste water & greenhouse gas emissions generated to produce a single barrel of oil, it’s a relief at least to see Americans applying some pressure. A recently passed U.S. energy bill prohibits the government from purchasing fuel from non-conventional petroleum sources like the tar sands if they create more greenhouse emissions than conventional oil. Which, of course, they do.

Only days ago the Pembina Institute released its first oil sands environmental report card, which served to prove that Alberta’s petroleum interests pay lip service at best to their social and ecological responsibilities. Fortunately, Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach is in Washington to set the record straight, pointing out that the extreme environmental toll being exacted is a “myth.”