Alberta Prosperity Project, Mitch Sylvestere (right) and Jeff Rath (left) image via: https://www.mitchsylvestre.com/
FORT MCMURRAY — Alberta Prosperity Project leader Mitch Sylvestre is criticizing the proposed Pacific Link Pipeline and the Pathways carbon capture project, arguing the two are linked and could create serious environmental risks for Alberta.
Sylvestre made the comments during an interview with CTV News. In the CTV News interview, he argued the Pathways project and the conditions surrounding new pipeline development could threaten Alberta’s water supply. A clip containing his remarks was later widely shared on social media.
“Do you understand the condition of this East Coast pipeline, these pathways? And you understand that pathways is, you know, liquefying liquid CO2,” Sylvestre said during the CTV News interview.
He argued the project would involve injecting millions of tonnes of captured carbon dioxide underground and could threaten Alberta’s water supply.
“They’re talking about injecting hundreds, like millions of tons of liquid CO2 under the substrate in Alberta here as a condition to do in this pipeline, which has the, you know, probably could actually, you know, dirty the water here and make it, you know, undrinkable for Albertans with years to come,” Sylvestre told CTV News.
Sylvestre also argued Alberta and Canada absorb more carbon dioxide than they produce and questioned spending billions of dollars on the carbon capture project.
“So there’s absolutely no logical reason why Albertans should spend $30 billion on a toxic pipeline that has the actual, you know, that has the potential to be an environmental disaster,” he said in the interview.
Alberta separatist leader Mitch Sylvestre says the Pathways carbon capture project will make Alberta’s water undrinkable, calling the Pacific Link pipeline “a toxic pipeline” that could become an environmental disaster. https://t.co/uDiE8Y5Jyq
— Scott Robertson (@sarobertson_) October 15, 2026
Pathways is a proposed carbon dioxide transportation and storage network backed by major oilsands producers. The project would collect captured CO2 from oilsands facilities in northeastern Alberta and transport it by pipeline for permanent underground storage near Cold Lake.
Previous projections for the project call for capturing about six million tonnes of CO2 annually by 2035 and roughly 11 million tonnes by 2040.
The proposed Pacific Link Pipeline would carry about one million barrels of oil per day from Alberta to a deepwater port on the West Coast.
Alberta initially considered a route toward Prince Rupert, but Premier Danielle Smith said this week the province agreed to use the existing Trans Mountain right-of-way after Prime Minister Mark Carney argued the corridor’s more recent environmental approvals and Indigenous consultation could shave two to three years from the project timeline.
Carney has said the approval process is expected to be completed in time for construction to begin by September 2027, a timeline Smith said she expects governments and project partners to meet.
The pipeline is also central to an economic expansion scenario recently examined by RBC.
Under RBC’s “Step Change” scenario, more than $200 billion in oil and gas construction could occur through 2040, with Canadian oil and gas GDP increasing by about $44 billion annually from roughly $95 billion today.
RBC estimated Alberta could capture as much as $29 billion of that additional annual economic activity and gain about 52,100 permanent jobs.
The analysis said oil production could increase by almost two million barrels per day by 2040, while non-U.S. oil and gas exports could climb from roughly $10 billion in 2024 to about $100 billion.
RBC also identified carbon capture as an important part of that growth scenario. Its analysis estimated roughly 16 million tonnes of additional annual carbon capture would be required by 2040 to accommodate expanded oilsands production while remaining below Alberta’s 100-million-tonne oilsands emissions limit.
Sylvestre, however, argues the environmental risks associated with Pathways outweigh the case for governments advancing the projects.
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