Abby L. Harvey
GHG Daily
2/5/2016
Deployment of carbon capture and storage technology must not be limited to politically motivated discussions but acknowledged as an economic and environmental necessity, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) said yesterday at the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute’s annual Americas forum.
“We’ve got to get over [the idea that] we can solve this problem politically, that this is a political problem and it is not an economic problem and it’s not an environmental problem; that is wrongheaded and it has led to bankruptcy,” Heitkamp said.
According to Heitkamp, if the coal industry approaches carbon capture and storage with a “hell no” attitude, its business will suffer. “What this has become is a political issue, and I have fought very hard to not continue that narrative, that we look at a narrative that provides opportunity going forward. So, when the industry comes in, the coal industry, the mining industry, comes in to talk to me, my early conversations went like this, I said, ‘If you’re ‘hell no’ I can’t help you,’” Heitkamp said.
However, the willingness to compromise must go both ways, the senator made clear. Efforts to cut out coal entirely from the national energy mix are counterproductive and unrealistic, she said, noting that some environmentalists are beginning to see CCS as an essential tool to address climate change. “People who care more about climate than any other issue, people like [Sen.] Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), are starting to get very, very interested in [carbon capture and storage], you know why? Because he knows that without this technology deployed worldwide we won’t solve the problem as he sees it in climate,” she said.
It is not only for their benefit that U.S. coal companies should embrace CCS, but also for the developing world, Heitkamp said. There is a direct correlation between access to electricity and an increased standard of living. Therefore, it is unrealistic to ask developing countries with access to inexpensive fossil energy to pass up the opportunity to provide electricity to their citizens.
The developed world has the knowledge and resources to develop CCS technology and drive the costs down, making it an option for developing nations and, in turn, resulting in cleaner industrialization. “This technology has to be developed by developed countries, and it has to be deployed, and it has to be accessible,” she said.
