Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Chief Allen Adam plans to fight with “tooth and nail” the Alberta Energy Regulator’s decision to not require an environmental assessment of the Pathways Alliance massive carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in northern Alberta.
The biggest players in the oil sands, Suncor Energy, Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus Energy, Imperial Oil, MEG Energy and ConocoPhillips Canada, want to build 600 kilometres of pipeline to collect carbon dioxide from 13 oil sands projects and then store the gas underground.
“There’s a reason the AER [Alberta Energy Regulator] doesn’t want to put the Pathways project through an environmental assessment,” Chief Adam said. “It is because it will expose the environmental impacts, the poor economic viability, and the risks to human health. We know the AER works with industry to cover up their messes. This is just another example, a big example.”
A Piecemeal Approach
In a letter sent last May to the AER, Ecojustice, an environmental non-profit, demanded an environmental impact assessment for the $16.5 billion project on behalf of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation.
According to the letter, the huge scale of the project, the use of planet-warming natural gas to run collection and compression equipment and water for cooling it, and the risk of groundwater contamination and CO2 leaks toxic to people are more than enough reasons to demand a thorough assessment of the project.
Ecojustice, Alberta Wilderness Association, NO to CO2, Environmental Defense Canada, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, and Climate Action Network Canada all signed the letter.
Shockingly, the AER said no.
In a statement sent to the National Observer, the agency supposedly responsible for holding big oil to a high safety and environmental standard said, “… further assessment of the project is not required under section 44 of [the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act] therefore, a screening report will not be prepared, and an environmental impact assessment report is not required.”
Instead, Pathways Alliance is breaking the project up into more than a hundred smaller projects, what critics call “project splitting,” to avoid an impact assessment.
It could be a dangerous game.
CCS Is A Mess
While carbon capture is getting an easy greenwashing ride in Canada, the story differs elsewhere. Since 2010, 76 carbon dioxide pipeline failures have occurred in the United States.
For example, in 2020, near Satartia, Mississippi, a carbon dioxide pipeline exploded and released noxious gas into the air. Many people were left shaking on the ground and unable to breathe, and 45 people were hospitalized.
“It looked like you were going through the zombie apocalypse,” Jack Willingham, emergency director for Yazoo County, told NPR after the incident.
In May 2024, the government of Queensland, Australia, wisely rejected a proposed CCS project in the Great Artesian Basin.
The Queensland government has now banned carbon storage in this massive groundwater basin.
That’s why Chief Allen Adam and many others think Pathways Alliance is getting off way too quickly.
It’s not like they can’t afford to do it right. In 2022, the six companies that make up the Pathways consortium made a record $35 billion in profit yet spent only $500 million on their carbon capture plan, according to a report by the Toronto Star. Pathways Alliance wants the public to foot the bill for half the cost of the estimated $16.5 billion project.
But first things first, according to Matt Hulse, an Ecojustice lawyer
“An environmental assessment is an excellent way to test whether the Pathways claims are actually true – not just about its ability to reduce emissions and help address climate change, but to do so safely and cost-effectively, particularly given all the taxpayer money they want to spend,” Hulse said. “With Alberta unwilling to assess this project, we hope that the federal government will step up.”
