Canada Government with Spectra Energy - Natural Gas Carbon Capture Project

The British Columbia government announced $3.4 million Monday to partner with a private company to study the feasibility of injecting harmful greenhouse gases back under the earth's surface as a way of keeping them out of the atmosphere.

If successful, B.C. Energy Minister Richard Neufeld said the project with Spectra Energy Transmission will be one of the largest carbon capture and storage projects in the world.

The total cost for the exploratory project, which will store carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide in natural geological reservoirs about two kilometres underground, is an estimated $12.1 million.

The project will take place at a natural gas processing plant owned and operated by Spectra near Fort Nelson, B.C., in the northeastern corner of the province.

Neufeld said the scheme represents a prime opportunity to help achieve the government's promise of reducing B.C.'s greenhouse gas emissions by 33 per cent by 2020 and Doug Bloom, president of Spectra Energy Transmission West, agreed.

"We believe carbon capture and storage technology holds real promise in providing a safe and effective means of reducing greenhouse gases and addressing climate change," Bloom said.

He said the company has a proven track record on carbon capture and storage and has been recognized by the International Panel on Climate Change as a leader in the technology, which it uses on a much smaller scale at eight other plants in western Canada.

"Our current processing facilities in B.C. and Alberta already divert more than 200,000 tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere every year," said Gary Weilinger, vice-president of strategic development.

He said the Fort Nelson project has the potential to divert five times that amount.

"To put that into some sort of context and perspective, that's about the equivalent of taking 250,000 cars permanently off the road in the province of British Columbia."

But a researcher with the David Suzuki Foundation said there are still many questions about the viability of carbon capture and storage.

Ian Bruce said Norway has claimed to have reduced emissions for a number of years using this technique, but it appears site specific and dependent upon the proper geology to ensure the harmful gases will remain in place and not leak.

Bruce also wondered why the B.C. government is handing $3.4 million to a major natural gas company, instead of establishing a cap on industrial emissions to spur industry-funded research and development.

He pointed to a report prepared for Natural Resources Canada two years ago that indicated the oil and gas industry has one of the poorest research and development investment records in Canada, with a meagre 0.36 per cent of revenues, and less than one-tenth the Canadian industrial average of 3.8 per cent.