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Alberta allocates $495M on Carbon Capture Pipeline

by Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke | November 25, 2009 at 04:10 am

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Alberta has come under pressure for its dismal record on the environment. The Alberta Oil Sands, near Fort McMurray, have come under the criticism by David Suzuki and Al Gore. President Obama has also been among the critics.

Alberta, in an effort to improve its image, has recently looks at carbon sequestration as a means of carbon capture. Trials were conducted north east of Edmonton on a small scale.

Yesterday the Province of Alberta has signed a letter of intent with Enhance Energy Inc, which is partnering with North West Upgrading, to build a pipeline connecting the oilfields in Clive, Alberta with Alberta'sa Industrial Heartland.

"Upon completion, it will be the first pipeline in the province that will capture large volumes of carbon dioxide from one area and transport it to another," Premier Ed Stelmach said.

Alberta will be spending $495 Million over 15 years of this 240km (150 miles) on this pipeline.

A pipeline of this size obviously takes up a lot of land. Normally it involves at least a 30 metre (approximately 100 feet) right of way with work area. This author has been in the brunt of this pipeline business with his own land and after 4 years is still haggling with the pipeline owners on reclamation and finishing the project.

I have promised myself to never go through this again.

Alberta has been torn up with pipelines from Fort McMurray to upgraders and refineries around Edmonton. The so-called pipeline corridor already has at least 5 pipelines running within an area of 9 miles in this so-called industrial heartland.

While this carbon sequestration project may in fact capture carbon, how safe is the project. The theory is that the sequestrated carbon will be used to extract oil from the ground and reduce the amount of water used in the process.

I am still skeptical with the intent of the Alberta government and the oil industry.

Alberta is spending $495 million over 15 years for a 240-kilometre pipeline that companies can hook into for collecting and storing carbon dioxide, it was announced Tuesday.

The province has signed a letter of intent with Enhance Energy Inc., which is partnering with North West Upgrading to build the pipeline, connecting the so-called industrial heartland northeast of Edmonton to oilfields near Clive, in central Alberta.

"Upon completion, it will be the first pipeline in the province that will capture large volumes of carbon dioxide from one area and transport it to another," Premier Ed Stelmach said.

"Once complete and operating at full capacity, the Alberta Carbon Trunk Line project will be able to store 14.6 million tonnes of CO2 per year. That's equivalent to removing approximately 2.6 million cars from the road.

"And it will make this the largest CCS project in the world."