Deep Sky meeting receives mixed reviews

A company that hopes to set up a carbon-capture facility in southwestern Manitoba said a meeting Monday evening in Pipestone went “as it should have.”

However, one area resident and people on Facebook said they weren’t so happy with how the event unfolded.

The meeting, put on by Montreal-based Deep Sky, was held to provide information to residents and allow them to ask questions about the company’s plans.

“There was lots of really good questions from a lot of people with a lot of experience, and (Deep Sky) had no answers,” Kim MacKenzie, who lives in the Rural Municipality of Pipestone, told the Sun Tuesday.

“They couldn’t give the answers to the tough questions. They could give answers to superficial questions, but not the tough technical questions.”

Many people asked questions relating to the area’s oilfield and farmland, she said, adding that since the company is this far into the process, they should have answers to residents’ questions.

The evening included a presentation from Deep Sky and from third-party experts. A Q&A after the presentation, scheduled to last 30 minutes, was extended to an hour at residents’ request.

MacKenzie said the informational presentations were helpful, although some of the information went “way above everybody’s head.”

After the meeting, people on the Facebook page Grounded in Truth – Deep Sky Awareness (Southwest Manitoba) were critical of the company and said it should leave Manitoba altogether.

Deep Sky is hoping to set up one of the largest facilities in the world in western Manitoba at a cost of about $200 million. The RM of Pipestone and the Municipality of Two Borders have been described by the company as “promising” locations for the facility, which it says will employ 250 full-time workers.

Jason Vanderheyden, Deep Sky’s vice-president of government relations and public affairs, said while the company’s representatives weren’t there to be cheered on, the event went as planned.

“We went there to really listen. And we did. We heard the fears that people had, but once we got a chance to actually share our data, the dynamic really felt started to shift,” Vanderheyden said Tuesday.

After the meeting, he said, many people came up to staff in support of the project, and asked about future jobs.

“It was a night of some really good, tough, fair questions, and a lot of quiet support from people who see the bigger picture as well,” Vanderheyden said.

“It was exactly what democracy looks like. We saw a lot of passion from the community. And honestly, we welcome that, we aren’t just looking for permission.

“We’re ultimately — in doing these sorts of activities — looking to build trust, and that starts with letting people voice their fears unfiltered,” Vanderheyden said.

The company is still waiting on studies from Manitoba Hydro and on the region’s geology, for provincial regulatory framework to be passed and for licensing processes to go through. As long as those steps go well, more community consultations will happen, Vanderheyden said.

“It is easy to focus on the loudest voices in the room, but that wasn’t the whole picture,” he said.

“We saw full spectrum last night. Yes, there was venting, but there was also genuine excitement.”

Randy Henuset, acting reeve of Pipestone, said the meeting was “pretty good” and Deep Sky representatives “explained themselves very well.”

He said while the municipality holds a neutral stance on Deep Sky potentially coming to the region, it is “all for economic growth.”

“Oil and gas is like 1,000 times more dangerous than this, and we have it all over the RM,” Henuset said. “It can bring more people to our area, it can fill the schools, all the businesses could be busier, somebody that’s wanting to sell a business might be able to sell it, homes could get sold.”

He said while many people think the RM is working closely with Deep Sky, it actually isn’t. Deep Sky is a private business working with private land, he said.

The only process the municipality would be involved in is rezoning and building infrastructure, like an access road, Henuset said.

Sandra Clark, reeve of Two Borders, said she heard a lot more detail on how the plant will function than she had before.

“Not everybody there was interested in really hearing the presentation or hearing the answers,” Clark said. “If you were open to listening to the presentation, you’d have learned things.”

She said the municipality is “quietly thinking” about things like housing should Deep Sky move ahead with setting up in the region.

The municipality is currently in a “wait-and-see” mode as Deep Sky jumps through regulatory hoops, she said.

The proposed facility would be able to store up to 500,000 tonnes of CO2 per year after Phase 3 is complete, and 30,000 tonnes of CO2 in its first year.

The full-scale version would only happen if it is feasible, based on the pending study results, Vanderheyden said.

The startup makes money by selling credits to companies that create emissions and want to become carbon-neutral, offsetting the emissions they’ve created.

The company hopes to start construction in the third quarter of 2026. The goal is for the entire facility to be open no later than 2031, as the business would be able to capitalize on a federal tax credit.

The station would use technology similar to large fans to suck air from the atmosphere and use sorbent technology — like sponges — that will separate the CO2 from the air. It will then liquefy the CO2 and shoot it two kilometres down into saline aquifers.

MacKenzie said she doesn’t have “any faith” in what the company is proposing.

“I have no trust. I think they’re here to make a lot of money for themselves off of our resources, using our water, using our power that belongs to all of Manitoba,” she said.

MacKenzie also called on the municipalities to host a meeting, so people can understand the economic benefit Deep Sky would bring.

For now, she wants to see transparency and honesty from Deep Sky, she said.

» alambert@brandonsun.com