Alberta is a province in Western Canada. The Rocky Mountains cross the territory,which has a number of national parks. But it is also home to an industry which is starting to exploit huge mineral deposits...the oil sands,Canada’s most important source of petroleum.A third of the world's oil sands are located here. But the mining of the substance is causing massive environmental destruction. And extracting crude oil from sand is very energy intensive. The emissions of CO2 are three times as high as with standard methods of oil extraction. The oil sands industry is the largest single source of greenhouse gasses in Canada and the quantity of emissions is set to rise as the industry expands. Because the thirst for oil is so great in the neighbouring US,Canada will hardly be able to meet its Kyoto protocol commitments.