Alberta regulator declines environmental assessment for carbon capture project

The Alberta Energy Regulator is denying a request from a First Nation and group of environmental organizations for an environmental assessment of the Pathways Alliance’s proposed carbon capture project.

The $16.5-billion project aims to connect 13 oilsands sites in northern Alberta to an underground storage site south of Cold Lake, using 600 kilometres of carbon dioxide pipelines. The Pathways Alliance is composed of Suncor Energy, Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus Energy, Imperial Oil, MEG Energy and ConocoPhillips Canada, which collectively represent 95 per cent of oilsands production. The alliance claims the project is critical to their ability to cut emissions.

In a statement, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Chief Allen Adam said with his nation’s treaty rights on the line, they will fight the AER’s decision “tooth and nail.” 

"There’s a reason the AER doesn’t want to put the Pathways project through an environmental assessment,” he 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.”

Last year, Imperial Oil reported a leak of 5.3 million litres from one of its tailing ponds at its Kearl site. It was later revealed the tailings had been leaking for years with both Imperial and the AER failing to disclose the information to the ACFN, putting people’s health at risk. Previously, Chief Adam told Canada’s National Observer he is very concerned about the potential damage to the environment and human health, and he wants to see the government step in to ensure proper protections are in place. 

Instead of a comprehensive environmental assessment, the Pathways Alliance is splitting its megaproject into 126 smaller segments for the regulator, with multiple applications for various licences filed with the AER.

“Project-splitting is a loophole that allows large industrial projects to steamroll ahead while ignoring cumulative impacts – putting Albertans, Indigenous communities, and ecosystems at risk of harm,” said Phillip Meintzer, a conservation specialist with the Alberta Wilderness Association, in a statement. “It’s like saying that drivers don’t need a licence to operate a vehicle because the individual parts aren’t technically a whole car. It’s absurd.”

The AER told Canada’s National Observer it isn’t requiring an environmental assessment because it isn’t mandatory for the Pathways Alliance proposal. 

“It was decided that further assessment of the project is not required under section 44 of [the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act],” an AER spokesperson said. “Therefore, a screening report will not be prepared, and an environmental impact assessment report is not required.”

But the AER also rejects environmental advocates' claims that project-splitting is to avoid a full assessment. Instead “breaking down a larger project into separate applications enables individuals to pinpoint specific concerns within the development,” the AER spokesperson said.

Denying a full assessment is concerning to environmental advocates, Indigenous leaders, and health experts because when CO2 pipelines fail, they can fail catastrophically. 

According to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation, there have been at least 76 reported safety incidents related to CO2 pipelines since 2010 in the United States. Some incidents are minor and others are disastrous, but all point to the risks of transporting and storing carbon dioxide as a way to manage greenhouse gas emissions.

In recent years, the most alarming example of a CO2 pipeline failure occurred in 2020 when a rupture happened in the small town of Satartia, Miss., causing a mass poisoning that hospitalized about 50 people. When the pipeline burst, a massive cloud of concentrated carbon dioxide exploded into the air, but because CO2 is heavier than air, it didn’t dissipate. Instead, it settled into a thick fog rolling through the community, displacing oxygen and dropping people to the ground as they struggled to breathe. 

Jack Willingham, the emergency director for the town’s county, told NPR, “It looked like you were going through the zombie apocalypse.” 

Whether a federal impact assessment happens, safety concerns will likely persist. In the United States, community groups are actively fighting CO2 pipeline projects by underscoring just how little is understood about the risks. Within one minute of a rupture on a 12 to 14-inch diameter pipe, a “kill zone of 760 feet” occurs, according to a North Dakota plume model study.

The United States has at least 50 CO2 pipelines running more than 8,000 kilometres, while Canada has five major CO2 pipelines stretching a combined 464 kilometres, according to the Canada Energy Regulator. Not yet included in Canada’s CO2 pipeline count are the proposed Pathways project and others proposed by Wolf Midstream and Whitecap Resources, which are separately planning CO2 pipelines in Alberta and Saskatchewan, respectively.

According to a study from Oil Change International published in August, Canada is among the top three financiers of carbon capture and fossil hydrogen projects, having provided US$3.8 billion worth of subsidies to date. At the same time, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, widely considered to be the gold standard for climate science, ranks carbon capture as the most expensive and least effective option to reduce emissions.