Pathways Alliance files application for carbon capture megaproject as critics question its emissions end game
A consortium of Canada’s largest oilsands producers has began filing regulatory applications for a new carbon capture megaproject.
The Pathways Alliance, which is comprised of six energy companies, confirmed the filing with CTV News Friday afternoon.
The $16.5 billion project proposal is for construction of a 400-kilometre pipeline that would transport carbon dioxide emissions from oilsands production facilities in northern Alberta to an underground storage hub near Cold Lake.
Pathways claims the line would achieve net reductions from its operations of millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents per year.
The paperwork for the pipeline project will go through the Alberta Energy Regulator and could take up to a year to complete. Pathways has previously said it wants to have shovels in the ground soon after.
CLIMATE SKEPTICISM
While Pathways is adamant the technology is the best way forward to meet emissions goals, some climate experts are less than optimistic.
University of Calgary Earth, Energy and Environment professor Sara Hastings-Simon argues the system does little to actually curb our climate problem’s root cause.
“There will continue to be demand for oil and gas for some time,” she said, “but this question of ‘can we simply produce as much as we have been all the way through to 2030 and 2050, and just capture the upstream carbon emissions,’ that’s not compatible with a world that’s taking action to avoid worsening impacts from climate change.”
The oilsands industry currently accounts for about 12 per cent of Canada’s overall greenhouse gas emissions.
“This is just a way for the oil and gas industry to continue to increase production,” Tim Gray with Environmental Defence said. “We should be taking this money and investing in the actual transition, which would protect Albertans from the future shock to the energy system that’s on the way.”
TOO AMBITIOUS
That transition has had some holdouts.
Many in the energy industry have long insisted federal 2030 climate targets are too ambitious.
Pathways says it has its sights set on 2050.
“I still have a lot of questions around the pushback that we’re seeing on that oil and gas emissions cap, in light of the continued claims from Pathways and others that their intention is to proceed down this path,” Hastings-Simon said. “If companies are really serious and want to show a commitment, the best way they can do that is supporting the regulations that would tie them to those emission reductions.”
The Pathways Alliance denied a CTV News interview request Friday.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'I have the will to live': N.B. woman needs double lung transplant
A New Brunswick woman suffering from sarcoidosis, a disease that limits your lung capacity, is in need of a double lung transplant.
Video shows suspect setting Toronto-area barbershop on fire
Video of a suspect lighting a Richmond Hill barbershop on fire earlier this week has been released by police.
Police officer hit by driver of fleeing vehicle in Toronto
York Regional Police say they are continuing to search for a suspect in an auto theft investigation who was captured on video running over a police officer in Toronto last month.
The kids from 'Mrs. Doubtfire are all SUPER grown up now, and we're not OK
The adorable trio of child actors from the 1993 classic comedy 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' which starred the late and great Robin Williams, are all grown up and looking back on their seminal time together.
Boeing is on the verge of launching astronauts aboard new capsule, the newest entry to space travel
It’s the first flight of Boeing’s Starliner capsule with a crew on board, a pair of NASA pilots who will check out the spacecraft during the test drive and a weeklong stay at the space station.
Suter scores late goal, clinches series for Canucks
Pius Suter scored with 1:39 left and the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night in Game 6.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
TD worst-case scenario more likely after drug money laundering allegations: analyst
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
Britney Spears 'home and safe' after paramedics responded to an incident at the Chateau Marmont, source tells CNN
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.