U.S., Canada pledge to work together on CCS

President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper signed an agreement yesterday stating that the clean energy dialogue between the two countries will focus on carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology.

According to the Environmental News Service, the two agreed in a joint statement that “A strengthened U.S.-Canada partnership on carbon sequestration will help accelerate private sector investment in commercial scale, near-zero-carbon coal facilities to promote climate and energy security.”

Furthermore, the pair agreed that a commitment from both countries was needed for the effective collaboration “on the development of clean energy science and technologies that will reduce greenhouse gases and combat climate change.”

To get the ball rolling and rolling fast, the countries have agreed to coordinate the R&D of CCS at coal-based power plants, using funds from the $3.4 billion reserved for CCS in the newly passed stimulus bill, along with funds from Canada’s Economic Action Plan. The leaders' said they plan to use their experience with the Basin Electric Power* North Dakota-Weyburn project, which shuttles CO2 from a plant to North Dakota to an oil field in Saskatchewan for enhanced oil recovery (EOR).

This is indeed an exciting partnership that will bring us closer to our environmental goals, while spurring economic growth and allowing for continued reliability and affordability of electricity.

Basin Electric Power is an ACCCE member.