Category Archives: Carbon Capture and Storage

Alberta’s CCS Disposition Scheme: the Carbon Sequestration Tenure Regulation

By: Nigel Bankes

PDF Version: Alberta’s CCS Disposition Scheme: the Carbon Sequestration Tenure Regulation 

Regulation Commented On: Carbon Sequestration Tenure Regulation, A.R. 68/2011

The provincial government is making steady progress in implementing its plan to put in place a legal and regulatory framework for carbon capture and storage projects. The province passed legislation in the fall of 2010 (Bill 24, Carbon Capture and Storage Statutes Amendment Act, which I blogged here) to deal with pore space ownership issues and to provide a framework for granting agreements to sequester captured carbon dioxide (CO2) in that pore space; and in March 2011 it launched a Regulatory Framework Assessment (RFA) to review the current regulatory rules.

The most recent step is the promulgation (at the end of April) of the Carbon Sequestration Tenure Regulation, Alta. Reg. 68/2011. This regulation puts some meat on the framework established by the new Part 9 of the Mines and Minerals Act (RSA 2000, c. M-17 (MMA)). In particular, it describes in greater detail the elements of the two new forms of agreement (evaluation permits and carbon sequestration leases) and some of the content of monitoring, measuring and verification plans (MMV) and closure plans. The regulations also go some way towards clarifying the relationship between the Department of Energy and the Energy Resources Conservation Board in relation to some of the more technical aspects of MMV programs and closure plans.

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Down on the Kerrs’ Farm: A Comment on the Reports of Alleged Carbon Dioxide Leaks from Cenovus’ Weyburn Project

By: Nigel Bankes

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is not yet a proven technology at commercial scales. It is true that we have had considerable experience with analogies including acid gas disposal projects, natural gas storage projects and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects (involving the injection of carbon dioxide as a miscible flood). We also have some international experience especially in the North Sea with CO2 injection projects not linked to EOR, but elsewhere, commercial scale CCS projects are just getting underway. And there is nothing that would stop or seriously slow the adoption of CCS more quickly than a significant failure in one of the early projects.

For some this would be no bad thing – particularly for the climate skeptics, those who believe that human induced global warming is not happening. Others accept the reality of global warming but are philosophically opposed to CCS as a means of mitigating emissions. The challenge for this group is to identify realistic alternatives if we remove CCS as an option. Yes, energy conservation and the widespread and aggressive adoption of renewables will get us a long way, and for some nuclear energy is an important part of the solution, but national mitigation strategies often adopt a “wedge” that represents the contribution that CCS can make to meeting national mitigation targets (see for example, the work of the National Round Table on the Economy and the Environment). If we lose the CCS wedge we need to find other mitigation strategies that can deliver over the next ten to twenty years.

This is what is so troubling about the reports (see below) that are emerging from Saskatchewan in which the Kerr family alleges that they are experiencing harms from carbon dioxide leaking from the enhanced oil recovery operation of Encana (now Cenovus) in the Weyburn Field in Saskatchewan. This project (which is an EOR project and not a CCS project) has been extensively and intensively studied since 2000 by an international group of scientists and has been adopted by the International Energy Agency as a pilot project to encourage learning for future CCS projects (see here).

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CCS and CDM: The Eligibility of Carbon Capture and Storage Projects under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol – the Cancun Meeting of the Conference of the Parties

By: Nigel Bankes

PDF Version: CCS and CDM: The Eligibility of Carbon Capture and Storage Projects under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol – the Cancun Meeting of the Conference of the Parties

Decision Commented On: UNFCCC, Kyoto Protocol, CoP\MoP Decision on “Carbon dioxide capture and storage in geological formations as clean development mechanism project activities”

The 16th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the 7th Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (KP) (CoP\MoP) concluded last week in Cancun. In the assessment of most observers this was a successful meeting but perhaps only because expectations were modest and anything seemed liked progress after the Copenhagen debacle of last year. But there is still much that remains to be done before countries can agree on a successor to the first commitment period of the KP which expires in 2012. Without such agreement the KP will simply die. Some, especially Europe, but also developing countries, want to see a second commitment period. But others, like Canada, point to the lack of inclusiveness of the KP (to say nothing of our own non-compliance which would result in a penalty on Canada during any second commitment period) and want to see an alternative to the KP that imposes emissions reduction obligations not only on the United States (not a party to the KP) but also on the so-called BRIC countries (Brazil, India, China) as well as other developing countries.

The Meeting did make progress on number of larger matters including REDD+ (reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) and on the narrower issue of the eligibility of carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects under the clean development mechanism (CDM) of the KP. The purpose of this note is to provide an update on that debate.

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Alberta Makes Significant Progress in Establishing a Legal and Regulatory Regime to Accommodate Carbon Capture and Storage (CSS) Projects

By: Nigel Bankes

PDF Version: Alberta Makes Significant Progress in Establishing a Legal and Regulatory Regime to Accommodate Carbon Capture and Storage (CSS) Projects

Legislation Commented On: Bill 24, Carbon Capture and Storage Statutes Amendment Act, 2010, The Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Third Session, 27th Legislature, 59 Elizabeth II

On November 1, 2010 the Minister of Energy introduced in the legislature Bill 24, the Carbon Capture and Storage Statutes Amendment Act. If and when enacted, the Bill will amend four of the provinces’s energy statutes, the Energy Resources Conservation Act (ERCA), RSA 2000, c.E-10, the Mines and Minerals Act (MMA), RSA 2000, c. M-17, the Oil and Gas Conservation Act (OGCA), RSA 2000, c.O-6 and the Surface Rights Act (SRA), RSA 2000, c.S-24, all in a bid to accommodate CCS projects and provide clear legal and regulatory rules for such projects. This blog focuses on the amendments to the MMA and the OGCA.

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How Should Society Deal with the Question of Long Term Liability for Carbon Capture and Storage?

By: Nigel Bankes

PDF Version: How Should Society Deal with the Question of Long Term Liability for Carbon Capture and Storage?

Report Commented On: Report of the Interagency Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage, August 2010

I don’t often sing the praises of government reports. Often written in turgid prose, they seem more concerned to find the lowest common denominator that all can live with rather than to identify and evaluate the policy problem and policy options to address that problem. This is even more likely to be the case where you have an “inter-agency” report; a report cobbled together by multiple cooks and authors, where the LCD really is the way to go. But I like this report of the United States federal Interagency Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage, which came out earlier this month. It should be compulsory reading, not just for CCS wonks, but also for anybody engaged in formulating public regulatory policy in response to any new technology.

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