String of industry-related earthquakes strike north of Edmonton – Edmonton
Experts say it’s happening more often in that area, and they have a pretty good idea why.
Kalle Macdonald has lived in Sturgeon County, near Gibbons, for 30 years. But on April 1, he experienced something he had never felt before — an earthquake.
“It’s not like they’re shaking the whole house apart or anything like that, but these are loud and disruptive,” said Macdonald.
And it wasn’t just one. Macdonald has experienced dozens over the past three weeks.
“They can happen in the middle of the night, they can happen in the day,” he said.
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“It’s not so much the damage they do or anything like that. It’s just the nuisance of it.”
The Alberta Energy Regulator’s website lists more than 30 earthquake events in that area. All of them are considered “known induced,” meaning they didn’t happen naturally.
It also notes that between January and March 2025, they recorded 862 seismic activities across the province. From January to March 2026, there were 1,520.
Earthquakes Canada has detected seven earthquakes of a magnitude of 2.5 or higher and says they’re all industry-related. Three earthquakes had magnitudes greater than 4.
The Alberta Energy Regulator’s website lists more than 30 earthquake events in the past month.
Global News
“When I looked through the seismic record, there were very few earthquakes in this area. Really, most of the earthquakes we’ve recorded have been in the past three weeks,” said Stephen Crane, a seismologist with Natural Resources Canada.
“How you feel an earthquake is very dependent on the size of the earthquake and how far you are away from the epicentre. Certainly, for larger events, you can feel them very strongly. Generally, we don’t start to see damage from earthquakes until the earthquakes reach a magnitude of about five or larger.”
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Alberta’s Ministry of Environment and Protected Areas tells Global News the seismic events were reported by Shell Canada, and are connected to their Scotford Upgrader and the related CO2 injection site operations to the AER.
They say Shell has implemented protocols to monitor and mitigate the impact.
“It is Shell’s obligation to return the injection well to a safe state prior to resuming operations, which may involve changing injection thresholds or proposing new mitigation measures,” read the statement.
Energy and Minerals Minister Brian Jean says industry-related quakes are a serious issue for the province.
“When it does happen, we get reports on it, and we have to make changes accordingly, either based on the technology that’s been used or the operator. We do that, and we are very diligent and closely supervise those situations,” Jean said.
The Alberta Energy Regulator says this may not be the last of activities in Sturgeon County.
“There is a possibility for further earthquakes, however we would expect earthquake activity associated with this event to decrease over the coming days,” read the statement.
Macdonald hopes there isn’t much he feels after that.
“To go from what I can tell is zero earthquakes ever, to having 30 earthquakes or aftershocks in less than 30 days, is just bizarre. If someone’s doing them, they can be stopped.”
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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