A coalition of Indigenous communities, farmers, and other Alberta landowners has announced its opposition to a proposed 600-kilometre carbon dioxide pipeline.
The pipeline is part of the Pathways Project, a carbon capture and storage initiative of the Oil Sands Alliance. Under the proposal, CO2 will be extracted from oilsands project emissions, compressed into a liquid state, and pumped to a storage site deep underground.
The emissions will be generated and captured at sites north of Fort McMurray and piped to the proposed storage facility near Cold Lake.
The No CO2 Pipelines Alberta Coalition is concerned about the safety of a pipeline. Local landowners, Chief Allan Adam of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Glenn Norman of the National Farmers Union, and Anna McIntosh of EcoJustice spoke at the coalition’s news conference March 24.
Amil Shapka, a County of St. Paul landowner, said that according to Alberta Energy Regulator, there have been more than 300 oil and gas pipeline incidents in the province in each of 2023 and 2024.
Shapka referred to a major 2020 CO2 pipeline accident in Satartia, Mississippi, that hospitalized four dozen people with symptoms that included seizures, unconsciousness, and respiratory distress. Concentrations of CO2 in the air were measured near the scene at approximately three per cent (normal concentrations are less than one-half of one per cent).
Satartia is the most serious CO2 pipeline accident to date. Such accidents are rare, though at less than 9,000 kilometres the existing North American network of CO2 pipeline is small compared to almost a million kilometres of oil and gas pipe.
Shapka quoted Satartia first responders’ reports of people “having seizures, falling unconscious, and experiencing respiratory distress.”
“I don’t ever want to be found, and I quote, ‘white foam coming out of their noses and mouths, their clothing stained with urine and excrement,’” he said. “No one should have to put their kids to bed with that thought in their heads.”
Another County of St. Paul landowner, Penny Fox, said information has been hard to come by even though her property has been identified as project-adjacent. She described the Oil Sands Alliance’s outreach tactics as “disconnect and disrespect.”
In an interview with CTV News March 25, Cold Lake First Nations Chief Kelsey Jacko also complained of a lack of consultation and communication surrounding the project. “We have been respectfully asking for conversations about this project for years, and got nowhere,” he said.
Jacko was asked about the Alberta environment minister saying it’s time to think big.
“It’s time to think big, but we’re left out of the conversation,” he said. “We asked for a seat at the table, and it never happened. People are making decisions without us. We’ve been asking questions for years now, and none of these answers have been provided to us. They just keep deflecting on one another.
“Let’s have everybody in the same room,” he said. “That’s all we’re asking.”