Two American retailers - Bed, Bath and Beyond, and Whole Foods - say whenever possible, the companies will use fuel from alternative sources, rather than relying on fuel from Alberta's oilsands.
A few months ago, the environmental group Forest Ethics started lobbying fortune 500 companies to stop using Alberta fuel. The group believes it's the only way to force the province to clean up the oilsands, which it says are harmful to the environment.
Alberta's Finance Minister Ted Morton is counting on high oil prices to bring Alberta out of the red in four years. The minister says the province can find other clients for its fuel.
The United States is not the only market for our oil and gas. And one of the strategies that we're looking at in coming years is the opportunity for more exports to Asia, either through a new pipeline, there is one that's been proposed, or through other methods of getting bitumen to the West Coast for export," said Morton.
But despite the new policies, both American retailers admit that in many regions, they'll have no choice but to use fuel from Alberta since that is all that is available.
