The fallout of the nearly three-month gushing of oil in the Gulf of Mexico is reverberating far beyond the body of water where it occurred.

One site of increasing consternation is the oil sands of Alberta, Canada. From the perspective of the U.S., the House energy committee, chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman, D.-Calif., is doing its best to persuade Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to turn down a request by TransCanada (NYSE: TRP) for a $7 billion addition to its Keystone pipeline. The addition would allow the transportation of oil from Canada all the way to the Gulf Coast.

But to go forward, the project will require the approval of the State Department.

And with the BP tragedy on everyone's mind, concern has multiplied that a leak could occur on land from the line. It appears impossible these days to conduct a discussion of energy transportation that does not include environmental squabbling.

Fuel from the Alberta sands has long been subject to controversy. The area produces heavy crude called bitumen, which, as environmentalists point out, requires the destruction of large patches of land and uses huge amounts of water. In addition, it results in the daily dumping of 3 million gallons of sludge into tailings lakes. Beyond that, 50 members of Congress recently wrote to Secretary Clinton emphasizing the greenhouse gases that result from the creation of fuel from oil sands.

On the industry side, ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), and Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A) have formed the Center for North American Energy Security. The center's purpose is to convey the industry's position on oil sands, where, unsurprisingly, all three supermajors have active projects.

One major difficulty with all this is the potential for stirring up hostilities between the U.S. and Canada. Our friends to the north have become our top supplier of crude. But responding to the current environmental recalcitrance in our country, Canadian authorities have said that their oil can just as easily go to China and other countries.

But not everyone is environmentally fearful of the oil sands. Indeed, Total (NYSE: TOT) has just agreed to pay $1.4 billion for UTS Energy. Among other things, Total will acquire UTS' 20% stake in the big Fort Hills oil sands project, where Suncor (NYSE: SU) and Teck Resources (NYSE: TCK) own the remaining 80%. To my mind, this is a solid purchase for the French company; one that renders it even more important for Fools with an energy appetite to watch carefully.