The big-project beat goes on.

After more than a week of buzz and announcements, Premier Danielle Smith ended the Stampede blitz with another whopper.

That was Monday’s announcement that the Oilsands Alliance, the group of five key companies, has reached a memorandum of understanding on the Pathways carbon capture and storage project.

There’s long been doubt this could happen.

This is still a preliminary agreement, but all signs point to a future for vastly increased oilsands production, along with carbon capture to reduce per-barrel emissions.

Your weekday lunchtime roundup of curated links, news highlights, analysis and features.

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This was Ottawa’s stopper. Prime Minister Mark Carney needed carbon capture to keep peace in his caucus. Ottawa could not be seen to abandon climate action.

For Smith, the MOU was right on hand to impress provincial environment ministers who met in Calgary on Tuesday.

Carbon capture has already done Canada a lot of good by helping drive ex-environment minister Steven Guilbeault out of Carney’s government.

Guilbeault quit as an MP, saying the Liberals were “rewarding negative behaviour” — a final blurt of paternalism from downtown........

© Calgary Herald