Ottawa working toward pipeline, oil sands growth with carbon capture project

An oilsands facility is reflected in a tailings pond near Fort McMurray, Alta., in July, 2012.

Ottawa is committed to getting a carbon capture project built in Alberta’s oil sands as part of a broader plan to reduce emissions from the sector and ultimately work toward a new oil pipeline, says Tim Hodgson, Canada’s Natural Resources Minister.

While there are still “a few things to work out” with the Pathways Alliance – a group of oil sands producers that is proposing the carbon capture plan – and the Alberta government, Mr. Hodgson said construction on the project could begin very soon after those details are ironed out.

The Pathways initiative is a 400-kilometre-long pipeline that would transport carbon trapped at oil sands facilities to an underground hub near Cold Lake, Alta., with