CBC reports that, “the Shell Quest (tar sands) project – which is owned by Shell Canada, Chevron Canada and Marathon Oil Sands L.P. – (will get $865 million from the governments of Alberta and Canada to) be used to develop technology to eventually capture and store 1.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year from Shell’s Scotford upgrader and new expansion east of Edmonton.”
“(Alberta) is providing $745 million over 15 years for the project. The remaining $120 million is coming from the federal government’s Clean Energy Fund. The entire cost of the project is estimated at $1.35 billion.”
HARPER GOVERNMENT COMMITS $650 MILLION TO CCS PROJECTS
On May 19, 2009 Reuters reported that, “Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt said in a statement (that) C$650 million has been earmarked to help pay for large-scale carbon capture and storage demonstration projects…”
“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.”
RAITT SAYS PRENTICE MOVED WIND POWER FUNDS TO CCS PROJECTS
On June 12, 2009, the CBC reported that, “Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt is heard on tape saying she believes the environment minister pushed to divert funds earmarked for wind energy to oil patch projects during pre-budget negotiations…”
“The Halifax Chronicle Herald published a previously unreleased excerpt of (an inadvertently recorded) five-hour (January 30) conversation between Raitt and her former aide, Jasmine MacDonnell.”
In the recording Raitt says, “My suspicion is, what I told you, that Jim took the money for his Clean Energy Plan.”
The Edmonton Journal has reported that, “the five-year Clean Energy Fund …features $650 million for large-scale demonstration projects (including carbon capture and sequestration), in addition to $200 million for smaller projects (renewable and alternative energy technologies and systems) and $150 million for research (to encourage the technological breakthroughs needed for renewable clean energy, for hydrogen and fuel cells, to learn more about the geological storage potential in some areas, and for technologies dealing with oilsands environmental issues).”
ALBERTA CCS DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL SAYS $1 BILLION TO $3 BILLION PER YEAR NEEDED
In July 2009, a campaign blog noted that an Alberta CCS Development Council report says the federal and Alberta governments may have to invest $1 billion to $3 billion per year after 2015 to turn capturing carbon into a viable commercial technology and that energy prices will rise as consumers shoulder “a large share of the burden” of this cost.
The article also noted, “It could also take up to 20 years to produce such projects on a commercial scale.”
COUNCIL OF CANADIANS CRITICISMS OF CCS
Council of Canadians energy campaigner Andrea Harden-Donahue has stated that, “Both the federal and Albertan governments have touted carbon capture and storage as a means to green the tar sands and justify ongoing expansion. But there is no silver bullet solution to the tar sands. CCS is expensive and requires massive subsidies and the proposed regulatory timeline for implementation is long. There is even evidence that CCS will have limited capacity to reduce emissions in the tar sands. An Alberta-Canada EcoEnergy Task Force released a report in January 2008 that says only a small percentage of CO2 emitted from the tar sands is currently amenable to the technology because of the size and concentrations of emissions streams.”
She has also stated, “Instead of looking backwards, we must move forward and embrace the opportunities to create a sustainable energy strategy accountable to the public interest that meets energy security needs, minimizes impacts to the environment and transitions to greater conservation, improved energy efficiency and renewable energy development.”
WEB-LINKS
The background news stories are at http://canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=1572, http://canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=539, and http://canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=742.
The CBC article is at http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2009/10/08/edmonton-money-announced-shell-quest-carbon-capture.html.
