ST. PAUL – On Aug. 1, a group of residents met for an information session at Lac Bellevue Hall and discussed the proposed carbon capture storage (CCS) project that Pathways Alliance is hoping to build in the province.
The information meeting was hosted by a group known as “No to CO2.” The group describes itself as a grassroots, non-partisan group, “uniting friends and neighbours concerned with protecting their land and quality of life and defending the public interest,” according to information from the group.
Pathways Alliance, the organization spearheading the carbon capture project, is made up of some of the most prominent companies working in the region, including Canadian Natural, Cenovus Energy, ConocoPhillips Canada, Imperial Oil, MEG Energy, and Suncor. Together, the group makes up 95 per cent of Canada’s oil sands production. Its primary objective is the decarbonization of the oil and gas industry and reaching net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050.
Pathways Alliance plans to construct a major carbon capture and storage system line network connecting over 20 oil sands facilities in the Fort McMurray, Christina Lake and Cold Lake regions, transported via pipelines to a carbon storage hub in the Cold Lake region where liquid CO2 will be stored.
According to “No to CO2,” portions of the CO2 pipeline to connect these facilities could be located within the County of St. Paul and the M.D. of Bonnyville.
County of St. Paul resident and “No to CO2” member Amil Shapka said he hopes Pathways Alliance can ultimately answer some questions and provide more information. A sentiment echoed by many residents who attended the Aug. 1 information session.
“Nobody has any information…. we’re left speculating,” said Shapka.
A second information session was also held on Aug. 2 at Flat Lake Hall, in the MD of Bonnyville.
Concerns
During the Aug. 1 information session, Shapka shared the group’s concerns with CO2 pipelines. He feels CCS is an unproven technology and carries significant risks.
Shapka said that CO2, in order to be transported via pipeline, needs to be liquified under pressure thrice the rate of natural gas, and that CO2 pipelines can and do leak, for example,
During discussions, some residents reported that they have been privately and individually approached by Pathways Alliance over the past year to allow for their land to be surveyed, as part of the work taking place.
“It’s only recently when neighbours have started calling saying that these guys are showing up asking if they could survey their land, that we started to have some questions about what’s going on,” said Shapka.
He also noted that Pathways Alliance already drilled at least one test well by Horseshoe Bay Road in the County of St. Paul, with little information about the test provided to citizens.
A prior Lakeland This Week report noted that the Horsehoe Bay site proved not to be a suitable location, according to County of St. Paul CAO Sheila Kitz.
Lakeland This Week reached out to Pathways Alliance, who explained that the test was not intended to be used for CO2 injection, but gather the best information for the further assessment of geological characteristics and properties of underground CO2 storage formation.
Kendal Dilling, president of Pathways Alliance, confirmed that a portion of the CSS project’s 400-kilometre underground CO2 transportation line, or “What we call trunk line,” is being proposed to be located within the County of St. Paul, and that the group is happy to provide information to communities and municipalities.
The main trunk line follows over 95 per cent of existing rights-of-way where pipelines are already located underground. The carbon storage hub that the line will be connected to, in the Cold Lake region, is an area of pore space located underground, like rock formations that could store CO2, according to follow-up information from Pathways Alliance.
There will be multiple injection wells along the route of the proposed transportation line connecting the CO2 pipelines.
“We’ve already stated with early engagement... talking about the project at a conceptual level to let people know what we’re thinking about,” with landowners and municipalities, said Dilling, when asked if public consultation at the County is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2024.
He said formal consultations and information sessions, like open houses, will begin in the fall of 2023 in the County of St. Paul and other municipalities, through 2024, and throughout the duration of the project. He encourages people to attend these information sessions to learn more about the project.
Pathways Alliance also clarified the need to speak with landowners, explaining Pathways Alliance requires access to land to be able to survey and conduct environmental field studies, which is part of the regulatory application process.
Pathways Alliance is currently working to prepare a regulatory application to the province and is expecting to submit the application by the end of the year. Pending approval, construction of the Transportation Line is expected to begin in late 2025, “and then having everything in place by 2030,” said Dilling.
“Of course, we’re just talking about our project here. There’s multiple CSS projects proposed throughout the province. In fact, the province approved 20 plus CCS proposals to date for injection hubs. So, this will be a phenomenon that’ll be occurring not only in the Northeast, but Central and Northwestern Alberta, as well as various heavy industries, not just oil and gas.”
In October 2022, the Pathways Alliance project was among 19 projects approved by the province in its second competition to develop storage hubs in Alberta.
Risks with CO2 pipelines
Dilling said he also recognizes the safety and risk concerns in regard to CO2 pipelines. “Those are completely valid questions to be asking, [and] I think any one of us who is going to be living proximate to an industrial operation of any kind would want to understand what the operation is doing,” such as safety implications and emergency response.
The proposed CO2 pipeline would be constructed with high strength carbon steel appropriate for CO2 transport, and it would continuously be monitored 24/7 by a control room and will operate with strict controls on the pressure of the CO2 it can transport.
“Should there ever be a leak detected... if that were ever to happen, the pipeline would be shut down immediately,” said Dilling.
Dilling added it is also worth noting, “That we have CO2 pipelines operating all around the province right now, and have been for many, many years, moving CO2 as a routing part of oil and gas and of heavy industry operations in the province.”
