In northern Alberta, Canada, tons of oil sands are being extracted from the ground every day to produce a thick, gooey form of petroleum. Fort McMurray, the city at the center of oil sands mining, has seen a huge influx of people moving to the area for jobs in or related to the oil sands industry. The proposed Keystone XL pipeline would create an easier way for this oil to be transported from Alberta to refineries on Texas’s Gulf Coast. However, many environmental groups oppose oil sands production because of the high amount of greenhouse gases the production creates, and the U.S. Government has yet to approve the pipeline.
