Carbon capture no 'silver bullet'

Minister acknowledges what critics have said all along: Technology has limited use in bitumen mining

The much-touted carbon capture and storage technology is not the answer to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from oil sands projects in northeastern Alberta, Environment Minister Jim Prentice says.

While Ottawa and Alberta are spending billions of dollars on CCS demonstration projects, the minister yesterday acknowledged what critics have said all along: The technology has limited application at the energy-intensive mines and in situ projects that extract the bitumen from the ground.

However, CCS could play a major role in virtually eliminating carbon dioxide emissions from upgraders that process the bitumen into synthetic crude oil, thereby reducing the carbon footprint of oil sands projects over all.

“CCS is not the silver bullet in the oil sands,” Mr. Prentice told The Globe and Mail’s editorial board.

Globe and Mail