Farmers and First Nations unite against northeast Alberta carbon dioxide pipeline
Group warns of 600km 'hazard zone' along Pathways Project route, lack of environmental impact assessment
A coalition of farmers and Indigenous leaders from northeast Alberta have formed a coalition called No CO2 Pipelines to oppose the construction of a pipeline that could run from Fort McMurray and other areas to carbon capture storage areas near Cold Lake.
The coalition is concerned about the safety of the proposed 600-kilometre carbon capture pipeline and 18,000 km² underground carbon storage project that will cross near dozens of rural and Indigenous communities. The planned project would be the world’s largest carbon capture and storage network.
St. Paul County resident and coalition co-founder Penny Fox:
“Thousands of Albertans like me live directly in this project’s ‘hazard zone’. In an explosion, people in our communities are facing anything from breathing issues to brain damage to instant death. So I have one question for the Prime Minister: if you wouldn’t live next to this pipeline, why should we?”
Among the coalition’s concerns are the health risks of the carbon dioxide pipeline, a lack of environmental impact assessment and proper consultation with landowners and Indigenous communities, and the government subsidies that will be directed towards the project.
The coalition is requesting that federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Julie Dabrusin order a comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment of the proposed project.
Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Chief Allan Adam:
“We’re talking about hundreds of kilometers of pipeline that pass directly through areas where we live, hunt, fish and exercise our treaty rights. This project endangers our people, our land, our water and wildlife. And yet there has been no consultation, no information sharing, and no formal environmental assessment. Our message to the federal government is clear: come negotiate in public. Come to our communities, see why we won’t risk our way of life so profitable oil companies can bury their toxic waste under our communities.”
Cold Lake First Nation Chief Kelsey Jacko:
Alberta and the Canadian government signed a Memorandum of Understanding to construct a multi-billion dollar toxic waste site in our backyard, with no consultation or benefit to our community. We have been respectfully asking for a conversation about this project for years and gotten nowhere. We have asked for AER reform and heard crickets.
Minister of Indigenous Relations Rajan Sawhney responded to criticism about consultations and engagement.
“Since 2023, the ACO has been engaging in Level 3 consultations with 18 Indigenous communities,” Sawhney said. ACO is the government’s Aboriginal Consultation Office.
The CO2 pipeline is being promoted by the Oil Sands Alliance industry association, which changed its name from the Pathways Alliance in February 2026 and represents the Canadian Natural Resources Limited, Cenovus Energy, ConocoPhillips Canada, Imperial Oil and Suncor corporations.
The Pathways Project carbon capture pipeline and underground storage proposal is one of the four key projects named in the much-touted Memorandum of Understanding signed by Prime Minister Mark Carney and Premier Danielle Smith in November 2025.
“This MOU is going to provide us with not just a pipeline to the West Coast, but it’s going to be providing us with getting rid of seven of the bad nine laws that has really caused us problems in Alberta,” Alberta Minister of Environment and Protected Areas Grant Hunter said. “We also believe that we can have some of the highest, stringent environmental standards.”
The coalition opposed to the pipeline has planned a series of town hall meetings to share more information with Albertans concerned about the Pathways Project. The initial three meetings are being held in Mallaig on April 26, Lac La Biche on May 6, and Edmonton on May 13
Related reading:
Coalition of First Nations and farmers demands environmental assessment of oilsands carbon capture scheme (David Climenhaga, AlbertaPolitics.ca, March 25, 2026)
‘Alliance of cowboys and Indians’ takes on carbon capture megaproject (Jeremy Appel, The Orchard, March 24, 2026)
What we know—and don’t know—about the world’s largest carbon capture proposal (Falice Chin, The Hub, December 15, 2025)
Deputy Minister Shuffle: Reinforcing the importance of pipelines to the United Conservative Party government’s political agenda, a change on the government website this week shows that Kim Capstick is now Deputy Minister of Indigenous Relations with specific responsibility for pipeline engagement. It’s a high-stakes role as the government continues its push to have a new pipelines approved in the province and an oil pipeline built through British Columbia to the Pacific coast.
Capstick previously served as Deputy Minister of of Arts, Culture and Status of Women and before that filled a long list of professional communications roles with the government. Kindy Joseph is now Acting Deputy Minister of Arts, Culture and Status of Women.
Speaking at CERAWeek in Houston, Texas this week, Premier Smith acknowledged that the April 1 deadline for a pipeline agreement between the federal and provincial governments was likely to pass without an agreement, though negotiations continue.
Federal and provincial governments reach methane AIP on MOU
An agreement in principal has been reached on methane by the federal and provincial government as part of the MOU reached by the two levels of government in 2025. Here is some of the reaction to the methane equivalency agreement:
Calgary Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Deborah Yedlin:
“The current geopolitical turmoil highlights the importance of Canada expanding its access to new and emerging markets, and we see this agreement as another step toward achieving the goal of developing additional transportation infrastructure to reach tidewater. Alongside the recent agreement on impact assessments, we look forward to further progress on the MOU, including the industrial carbon price and the Pathways carbon capture and storage system.”
Pembina Institute oil and gas program manager Amanda Bryant:
“The use of third-party modelling and emissions reduction assessments will allow Alberta to report its methane progress more credibly. We continue to urge both governments that this should also incorporate actual measurement of methane emissions, which will be vital both for an effective response to climate change and to ensure ongoing access to major international natural gas markets that are demanding provably low-emissions-intensity fossil fuel imports, such as the European Union, South Korea, and Japan. We are pleased to see that this agreement-in-principle acknowledges that the self-reported industry estimates used by Alberta in the past are no longer adequate on their own. Measurement studies have shown that Alberta’s methane emissions are almost twice as much as these estimates suggest.
UCP nomination races begin to heat up
Two contests to choose UCP candidates for the next provincial have begun to heat up:
Nancy Karvellas is running running against Ray Donnelly for UCP nomination in Lac Ste. Anne-Parkland.
The riding is currently represented by UCP MLA Shane Getson and he is not expected to run again in the next election.
Stacy Miskew joins Dale Aalbers are in the race for the UCP nomination in Vermilion-Lloydminster-Wainwright.
Calgary-Shaw by-election watch: Well-known conservative organizer Craig Chandler launched a website to pressure City Councillor Dan McLean not to run for the UCP nomination in Calgary-Shaw. Chandler is believed to be supporting nomination candidate Mike Derry in the race to replace UCP MLA Rebecca Schulz, who is expected to resign from the Legislature in May 2026.
McLean said he has not decided if he’s going to enter the nomination race.
NDP nominations continue: The Alberta NDP are continuing to nominate candidates ahead of the next provincial election, most recently naming incumbents Kathleen Ganley in Calgary-Mountain View and Nathan Ip in Edmonton-South West. The NDP are expected to nominate the following candidates over the next few weeks:
March 29: Court Ellingson in Calgary-Foothills
March 29: Rhiannon Hoyle in Edmonton-South
April 8: Christina Gray in Edmonton-Mill Woods
April 12: Gurinder Brar in Calgary-North East
April 12: Irfan Sabir in Calgary-Bhullar-McCall
April 12: Parmeet Singh Boparai in Calgary-Falconridge
April 18: Bev Toews in Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills
May 3: Janis Irwin in Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood
Bev Toews will be the first non-incumbent NDP candidate nominated for the next election. Toews ran in the 2025 Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills by-election, where she placed second with 19.9 per cent behind UCP candidate Tara Sawyer, who was elected with 61.1 per cent of the vote. This was the NDP’s best-ever result in the rural central Alberta riding.
Meanwhile, Fred Kreiner announced that he will not run again in West Yellowhead. Kreiner ran for the NDP in the riding in 2023, placing second with 28 per cent of the vote. He is a former francophone school board trustee and the son of former Whitecourt mayor Helmut Kreiner.
Connor Hall, Isaac Nibourg and Lee Hardy have registered Prospective Candidate Associations with Elections Alberta, though it is unclear what party they plan to run for.
The final report of the Electoral Boundaries Commission is scheduled to be handed over to Assembly Speaker Ric McIver on March 28. The new map will increase the number of ridings from 87 to 89 and could create challenges for the parties if ridings are redrawn in ways that force already nominated candidates to run each other for nominations in new ridings.
NDP drop the gloves: NDP came out swinging with new attack ads this week. One ad compared Premier Smith to Kristi Noem, and another criticized UCP spending decisions, including $280,000 spent on new carpets in the Premier’s Office, $70 million for Turkish Tylenol and hundreds of millions paid to coal companies (no mention of the infamous gold cat statue though).
More Alberta politics
The Standing Committee of Legislative Offices is recommending Phillip Peters replace Doug Wylie as Alberta’s Auditor General. Wylie’s term in the role ends on April 29, 2026. He currently serves as general counsel and ethics officer with the Office of the Auditor General
“Mr. Peters demonstrates the independence, professional excellence and commitment to accountability required of an Auditor General” said committee chair and Leduc-Beaumont UCP MLA Brandon Lunty. “His appointment is an important step in maintaining public trust and strengthening transparency.”
Alberta Municipalities is holding its Spring Municipal Leaders’ Caucus in Edmonton on March 26 and 27. Premier Smith and NDP leader Naheed Nenshi will address the gathering on March 26.
Edmonton-Whitemud NDP MLA Rakhi Pancholi accused the government of dragging its feet on reviewing the Forever Canadian citizen initiative results.
The Select Special Citizen Initiative Proposal Review Committee was formed earlier this month but no date has been set for the committee to meet to discuss the next steps for the citizen initiative that collected the signatures of more than 456,000 Albertans.
Forever Canadian founder Thomas Lukaszuk announced that the group is holding an online town hall at 7:00 p.m. tonight to discuss next steps for the campaign.
Sam Jaber is on leave from the board of directors of the Invest Alberta crown corporation after it was reported that the RCMP searched the offices of his accounting firm last week. The visit is believed to be related to ongoing police investigations into the alleged government health care procurement scandal.
Country music artist Corb Lund will travel the province in support of the Water not Coal citizen initiative petition from April 3 to 5. The citizen initiative calls for a referendum to ban coal mining in the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains.
The Town of Didsbury became the third municipality in Alberta to adopt a “neutrality” bylaw limiting what flags can be flown at government buildings and maintaining standardized road and crosswalk markings.
While proposed under the guise of neutrality, these bylaws are thinly veiled efforts to block shows support for LGBTQ communities through the painting of rainbow crosswalks and Indigenous communities through the flying of Treaty flags.
Political staffing changes
Michael Burton has left his role as Campaign Director for the Alberta NDP. In a LinkedIn post published last week, Burton wrote that “I have enjoyed the last 9 months working with the caucus, staff, volunteers and party members and I wish them the best of luck.”
Burton entered the role in June 2025 after working as national field director for Mark Carney’s successful campaign for the federal Liberal leadership.
Darby-rae Crouch is now Chief of Staff to Agriculture and Irrigation Minister RJ Sigurdson. Crouch previously served as Sigurdson’s press secretary before running as the UCP candidate in the Edmonton-Strathcona by-election in June 2025.
She placed second with 13.6 per cent behind NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi, who was elected with 82.2 per cent of the vote.
After the by-election, she worked as a communications consultant with Endgame Strategies.
Michael Plentis has been hired as the Government of Alberta’s Manager of US Relations.
Plentis had worked as a press secretary to Minister of Forestry and Parks Todd Loewen since September 2025 and as Stakeholder Relations Advisor to Official Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre from 2023 to 2025. He worked as political staffer and government relations consultant in Ottawa before that.
The job description for the manager position posted on the Alberta government website notes that the position reports to the Director of US Relations, a position filled by Lianne Bell since September 2025. Bell previously worked as Chief of Staff to Assembly Speaker Nathan Cooper, who was named as Alberta’s representative in Washington D.C. in May 2025.
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CO2 leak in Mississippi - a cautionary tale
https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-429-what-on-earth/clip/16199045-why-co2-leak-mississippi-holds-lessons-canadaOvercast