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Harper government commits $650 million to CCS projects

Reuters reports that, “Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt said in a statement (today that) C$650 million has been earmarked to help pay for large-scale carbon capture and storage demonstration projects as the government looks to follow through on agreements made during U.S. President Barack Obama’s February visit to Canada…The Conservative Party government is looking to keep up with U.S. initiatives to stem climate change and to offset criticism of Canada’s environmental record and of carbon-intensive oil production from the country’s oil sands.”
“Last year the federal government earmarked C$240 million to aid plans for a carbon capture program at a power plant in Saskatchewan while the Alberta government has a C$2 billion fund to support CCS programs in that province.”

A Council of Canadians media release issued on February 19 just after President Obama’s visit to Canada states: “There is a need for caution when it comes to carbon capture and storage (CCS) and intensity based targets,” says Council of Canadians energy campaigner Andrea Harden-Donahue. “The Canadian and Albertan governments have tried to use CCS to help greenwash the tar sands, the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in our country, and justify ongoing expansion.” Harden-Donahue notes that CCS has not been demonstrated or proven in the tar sands, and is very expensive. There is evidence in a report prepared for the governments of Alberta and Canada that only a small percentage of CO2 emitted from the tar sands is ‘capturable.’

Today’s Reuters article can be read at http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE54I5K420090519.

Our media release can be read at http://canadians.org/media/energy/2009/19-Feb-09.html.