U.S. lawmakers tour Canadian carbon capture, storage project

Lindsey Graham says carbon capture works, has multiple uses

ESTEVAN, Canada – U.S. presidential candidate Lindsey Graham is praising carbon capture and storage technology in Saskatchewan and says it’s time to pursue similar projects in his own country.

The Republican senator for South Carolina was part of a delegation of U.S. lawmakers who toured SaskPower’s Boundary Dam 3 facility near Estevan on Wednesday with Premier Brad Wall.

Graham, who is seeking his party’s presidential nomination, says capturing carbon dioxide clearly works and has multiple uses.

He says Saskatchewan has done it right and it is time to ask why the U.S. is not following Saskatchewan’s example.

Wall says the Boundary project captures 90 per cent of the coal-fired electricity plant’s carbon dioxide emissions and it is possible the U.S. government and private corporations will invest in the technology.

The premier says Boundary Dam 3 also shows Washington that Canada wants to protect the environment.

“You know we have asked for things like the approval of Keystone ( oilsands) pipeline, and I’m not sure we have made the environmental bona fides on our side of the border like we should have,” he said Wednesday.

“This helps on cross-border environmental issues so that our friends in the United States will understand that we are serious about the environment.”

Wall said that coal accounts for about 39 per cent of U.S. electricity generation.

The U.S. delegation also included Rhode Island Democrat Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and Republican Congressman Tom Rice of South Carolina.

Wall said Graham is a strong advocate of carbon capture and clean coal initiatives.

Graham gushed about Saskatchewan’s $1.4 billion project.

“You have not only done it right, you are having everybody in the world to come look at it,” Graham said, noting he has a message to bring back home.

“I am going to ask the simple question: ‘Why can’t you do what they did in Saskatchewan?”’

A Saskatchewan government official said the U.S. delegation is to tour Alberta’s oilsands on Thursday.

The Canadian Press