The cost of Canada's Black Gold

An article dicussing the environmental cost of Alberta's Oil Sands. The cost of black gold ( from Speigel Online):

But what is most worrying is that the Canadian government is no longer able to meet the targets for emissions reductions it set when it signed the Kyoto Protocol. Experts have calculated that emissions in areas with oil sands will continue to rise. By 2015, the area around Fort McMurray is expected to produce as much carbon dioxide as all of Denmark. But Charles Ruigrok -- the head of Syncrude, one of the veterans of the oil sands industry -- shrugs off the problem: "I believe technology will fix it."

Even if that prediction doesn't come true, it's unlikely Canada will curb petroleum extraction for ecological reasons. The economic boom in the north has spread to the entire province of Alberta. The province that used to be Canada's problem child is now experiencing a change in fortunes. White truffles and Mercedes cabriolets have become popular purchases in Edmonton, the provincial capital. Alberta is debt-free and doesn't even impose value-added (sales) tax on its residents.