Was it all just bullshit? After bold talk of a “grand bargain” between Ottawa and Alberta, the much-hyped memorandum of understanding between premier Danielle Smith and Prime Minister Mark Carney seems to be devolving into a undignified series of federal capitulations around carbon pricing and clean energy regulations. Seemingly smelling blood in the water, the oil patch continues to crank up their open-air lobbying efforts for ever more policy concessions, including perhaps nixing the Pathways project itself.
The Pathways Alliance carbon capture and storage (CCS) project – long promoted by the five largest bitumen producers as the largest CCS project in the world – never seemed to amount to more than a website and an advertising campaign. No detailed plans were ever made available. No shovels in the ground despite years of public spin, even with the federal government offering a 50 percent tax credit on the $20 billion project.
There now seem to be significant shifts in Pathways’ public messaging – starting with its name. The Pathways Alliance rebranded itself the Oil Sands Alliance in late February, “to better reflect the purpose and mandate of the organization to promote growing the oil sands industry”. After investing four years of expensive advertising effort, why would the largest bitumen producers now be relegating the CCS portion of their alliance to the back seat?
