Production of oil from tar sands bitumen produces between three and five times the greenhouse gas pollution of conventional oil production.

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Alberta, Canada is site of the world's largest extraction operations from oil sands, heavy earth laden with bitumen, a hydrocarbon-rich mineral.

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The pipelines that currently carry bitumen from the oil sands to refineries in the Midwest will reach maximum capacity in as little as four years.

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The line is critical to ensure a continued, smooth ramp-up in oil sands production, because producers need to send the heavy bitumen extracted from the sands to refineries able to handle that kind of crude.

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Oil sands are naturally occurring geologic formations that contain a mixture of water, sand, and bitumen.

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The big prize here is a 20% stake in the Fort Hills oil sands project, an open-pit mining operation targeting 3.4 billion barrels of bitumen.

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Bigger operators don't have the luxury of halting production: Many of the newer oil sands projects are not the typical open strip mines, rather they inject steam into the ground to slowly melt the bitumen out of the sands.

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