Alberta Premier Rachel Notley says her visit to Washington, D.C., this week was aimed at flipping the script on Alberta’s oilsands, which many Americans associate with the maligned Keystone XL pipeline rejected by President Barack Obama last year.

Notley told CTV’s Question Period that her sales pitch of environmentally-conscious oil seemed to have traction with American politicians and stakeholders.

“Really at this point, what we’re mostly doing is trying to just change the narrative about our province,” Notley said from Washington, D.C.

“We felt it was really important for people to understand that our government is taking a very different approach to environmental issues and to climate change.”

Alberta’s NDP government introduced its climate change plan late last year, which calls for a wide-ranging carbon tax, a cap on oilsands emissions and a gradual end to coal-fired electricity.

Notley admitted that changing the province’s reputation stateside won’t happen overnight, but she said her initial message was “well-received.”

“You have to have a number of different conversations with a number of different people, and that’s what this is about,” she said.

‘They were quite impressed’

Notley met with several influential American leaders during her visit, including Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski and Christy Goldfuss, managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

She also spoke with key leaders from the Center for American Progress, a major U.S. think-tank with close ties to the Obama administration.

Despite the group’s anti-oil stance, Notley said they were “very excited” about Alberta’s new direction.

“Very frankly, they were quite impressed with the ambitious nature and the fulsome nature of our climate leadership plan,” she said.

Getting Ottawa on board

One of the more divisive elements of Notley’s plan is a new pipeline to bring Alberta crude to Canadian tidewaters on the east or west coast. The proposed pipeline plan has been met with stern opposition, particularly in British Columbia, where opponents have raised concerns of the devastating environmental toll of a potential oil spill.

“I think it’s really important, regardless of the route, for Canada, for Alberta, to get our product to tidewater,” Notley said.

She said that more Canadians are open to the pipeline after seeing the devastating toll of tumbling oil prices “and what it means to their friends and their neighbours.”

“An efficient and effective energy industry in Alberta contributes to economic health across the country,” she said

“It contributes to jobs and prosperity, and people need to understand that even as we transition to a lower carbon economy, we need to do it in a just way that protects jobs.”

Hope for pipeline approval

The premier didn’t appear to change any Liberal minds last week during an oilsands pitch to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and members of his cabinet during a three-day retreat in Kananaskis, Alta.

Speaking with reporters after Notley’s speech, Transport Minister Marc Garneau stood by the federal government’s position to ban crude oil tankers from B.C.'s north coast – a position that jeopardizes the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline.

Notley said Ottawa is being appropriately cautious on the pipeline file and that she didn’t expect an immediate change of heart.

“Obviously I think there are good reasons why the federal government is being careful in terms of how they approach this,” she said.

Still, the premier says she harbours hope for an approved pipeline before the next provincial or federal election.

With files from the Canadian Press