Oil and gas industry group backs proposed merger of Alberta's largest river basins

Joel Dryden · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 10, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

A Canadian lipid and state manufacture radical is backing a connection to consolidate Alberta's 2 largest stream basins, a determination that would marque it easier for manufacture to transportation h2o successful that country without requiring legislative approval.

The connection involves the Peace/Slave and Athabasca basins.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), which represents the country's lipid and state companies, says the alteration would destruct the request for redundant h2o infrastructure and trim biology impact.

"Current restrictions nether the Water Act make unnecessary inefficiencies for lipid and state projects that span large basin boundaries," reads a connection attributed to Richard Wong, vice president of regulatory and operations with CAPP.

Conservation groups, meanwhile, are much skeptical.

"This thought of combining what are our 2 largest stream basins successful Alberta, essentially, to debar having to spell done the process to implicit an interbasin transfer, to me, is associated with a batch of undue risk," said Kennedy Halvorson, a conservation specializer with the Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA).

Currently, Alberta's Water Act prevents h2o from being transferred betwixt the province's 7 large stream basins unless a peculiar enactment of the Legislature is authorized.

But nether a connection outlined successful an ongoing consultation astir h2o availability successful Alberta, the Peace/Slave and Athabasca basins would beryllium combined.

In a statement, CAPP said the thought didn't originate with them, but their members enactment it arsenic a applicable solution.

"Consolidating the Peace/Slave and Athabasca stream basins, which people converge wrong Alberta, would destruct the request for redundant h2o infrastructure, let companies to entree the astir suitable h2o sources based connected availability and trim biology impact," Wong said.

For vigor companies with holdings connected some sides of a basin boundary, there's agelong been concern about the duplication of h2o infrastructure. Companies accidental they're forced to physique other h2o sites and retention successful each country they're moving in, which they accidental increases a company's wide biology footprint.

CAPP said that utilizing nationalist data, 1 of its taxable substance experts had counted 122 oil, earthy state and oilsands operators with onshore holdings connected some sides, across 100-kilometres, on each broadside of the Peace/Slave-Athabasca basin boundary.

'Unintended consequences' raised arsenic concern

In October 2024, the Alberta authorities launched an engagement it said was intended to summation h2o availability and amended the province's h2o absorption system. It held a bid of open-ended municipality halls, unfastened houses, online surveys and different forms of engagement.

Halvorson said successful the archetypal signifier of the consultation, participants were asked for their thoughts on proposals involving "low-risk" interbasin transfers.

"Often, there's a batch of interest astir interbasin transfers, due to the fact that each benignant of watershed has a antithetic carnal makeup, a antithetic chemic makeup. It whitethorn person antithetic species, antithetic ecological networks," she said. "So, as soon arsenic you commencement combining them you bash hazard having … unintended consequences connected the receiving watershed."

Those consequences could see changes successful pH levels, chemic concentrations, the instauration of invasive species, and reduced travel for downstream ecosystems and users, Halvorson said.

In May, the state released a bid of projected changes to the Water Act, which included the connection involving the Peace/Slave and Athabasca stream basins. In that document, the state notes specified a connection would beryllium "similar to the Bow, Oldman, and Red Deer basins converging wrong Alberta arsenic the South Saskatchewan River Basin."

Halvorson argued specified a examination neglected the importantly larger size of the Peace/Slave and Athabasca basins.

"They're truthful overmuch larger. Collectively, they would screen 50 per cent of the province," she said.

Water absorption strategy seeing challenges

Ryan Fournier, property caput for Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz, noted that the Water Act has not been updated successful 25 years.

He added that the engagement heard ideas from much than 1,000 Albertans connected however to marque the strategy enactment better.

"This spring, we sought feedback connected immoderate of the astir commonly raised, oregon practical, changes that were projected by Albertans, including consolidating the database of large stream basins," Fournier wrote successful a statement.

"We are present reviewing the feedback we received from Albertans. No decisions person been made astir however to determination guardant but we volition support Albertans updated arsenic we enactment to marque each driblet count."

Jason Unger, the enforcement manager of the Environmental Law Centre, said helium believes determination are inactive excessively galore unanswered questions astir the biology and assemblage impacts of a imaginable merger, both around wastewater from concern projects similar lipid and state operations and different types of interbasin transfers. 

"While it appears a circumstantial benignant of interbasin transportation is contemplated, erstwhile merged, each types of interbasin transfers are past legally permittable," helium said.

He added that the connection seems to beryllium built connected the presumption that h2o transfers betwixt the basins are low-risk, and that truthful they tin beryllium treated arsenic 1 basin.

"I deliberation the authorities would beryllium amended placed to see 'classes' of activities that whitethorn supply a nett payment to the situation and fig retired amendments circumstantial to those classes and consult connected those," helium said.

The Alberta authorities has said that colonisation growth, economical maturation and h2o variability are challenging the h2o absorption strategy successful the province, and that caller argumentation and tools could beryllium utilized to respond to those challenges.