MHA says N.L. is uniquely suited for carbon capture. Advocates say it isn't a climate solution

Lake Melville MHA Perry Trimper says Newfoundland and Labrador is uniquely suited to capture and store carbon dioxide and methane gases, but advocates say a newly announced carbon capture program feels like an invitation to keep oil production going.

The provincial government announced $6 million in incentive funding earlier this month to help establish Newfoundland and Labrador as a global hub for carbon storage, which Premier Andrew Furey called the Carbon Capture, Storage and Utilization Challenge.

Trimper, who worked as an environmental scientist before going into politics, was part of the team that pitched the concept to Furey last year, he told CBC News in a recent interview. He said carbon is often stored in the ocean, which makes the province a good place for the technology.

"We need to haul about 14 per cent of the carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, so we need strategies to capture that carbon. In some ways we're doing it as we're capturing around industry, [but] there's other ways where you can actually capture it from the atmosphere passively," Trimper told CBC Radio. 

"The oceans do act as a sink. Twenty-five per cent of the carbon in the world is stored in our oceans…. If the oceans are picking up the carbon dioxide, we need to make sure it doesn't cause all these negative affects. That's where the storage component comes in."

But environment and climate change advocates say whatever is collected in Newfoundland and Labrador will be a drop in the bucket compared to what is produced if oil and gas production continues.

"By the time something's up and running, the existing platforms will likely be in their sunset phase, if not already used. So it looks to me like this is a way of securing future development," Holly Hogan, a seabird biologist and author, told CBC Radio earlier this month. "And this shouldn't even be part of the discussion."

Hogan said she is for the idea of taking carbon out of the environment and storing it, but said the devil will be in the details of any potential plan.

Trimper spoke to concerns that carbon capture is a licence for oil production to continue under the veil of green energy.

He responded saying he wants to move away from oil and gas in the future, but it's important to see what the province can do to inject carbon into safe storage locations while oil and gas is still being produced.

Julia Levin, the associate director of national climate for Environmental Defence Canada, told CBC News there are still issues with the technology surrounding carbon capture — saying the practice is speculative, expensive and "not a real plan."

"The truths around carbon capture is that it really isn't a climate solution," Levin said.

"Oil and gas companies know that carbon capture isn't really going to work, but they see it as a way to keep getting money from governments and to delay the renewable energy transition…. But it's diverting time, money and energy away from real climate solutions for Newfoundland and Labrador and for the world."

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