U.S. senators, congressman to tour carbon capture technology at boundary dam
Premier Brad Wall pitches carbon capture technology to U.S.
Two American senators and a U.S. congressman will be visiting Saskatchewan's boundary dam site tomorrow, touring the carbon capture and storage technology used at the dam.
The group includes republican senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, democratic senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and republican congressman Tom Rice of South Carolina.
They will tour the south Saskatchewan facility with Premier Brad Wall.
"The Boundary Dam 3 CCS project has technology which has worldwide application in the push for clean coal power sources and the mitigation of the effects of climate change," Wall said.
"We've been promoting Saskatchewan expertise and this project globally, and we welcome this opportunity to show Boundary Dam 3 to another group of American political leaders and influencers," he said.
The premier said marketing the technology could provide returns to the province.
"That's what we have to market," Wall said. "This is something the taxpayers have funded and our argument is [people acquiring the technology] should pay a little to get that knowledge."
Wall noted that the U.S. has the world's largest coal reserves, and is the world's second-largest coal producer.
The dam site south of Estevan, Sask. is owned and operated by SaskPower.
The company touts carbon capture storage as an environmentally-friendly way to generate electricity using coal. The technology is a key part of the provincial government's program to fight global warming and climate change.
Emitted CO2 at the plant is captured and stored underground instead of being released into the atmosphere.
Launched in October 2014, the project allows the utility supplier to reduce CO2 emissions by 90 per cent, according to information on its website.
The premier noted that this is the third visit to Saskatchewan by Senator Graham but his first to Boundary Dam 3. The senator is a strong advocate of CCS and clean coal initiatives.