Premier Ed Stelmach refused to commit Monday to a federal climate-change strategy that would make it mandatory for all new oilsands plants to capture and store the bulk of their greenhouse gases.
The premier avoided questions from the media after he made a speech at the Heavy Oil conference Monday at the Shaw Conference Centre.
"Let's put it this way, (regarding) what we own and how we operate, I said we're going to do it in a very responsible sustainable manner," Stelmach said.
The premier said he will not commit until the cost is worked out with the federal government and industry.
"If the oilsands are the focus then let's all sit around the same table and put some money on the table and start dealing with the issue," he said.
In the province's recent climate change strategy announcement, Stelmach said the Alberta's plan will heavily depend on carbon capture to cut projected greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050, but it did not speculate on whether it would be voluntary or mandatory for industry.
He also hinted to reporters that a site in Redwater, Alta., may be the first site to test carbon capture technology.
Ottawa is set to unveil their new strategy this week as part of Environment Minister John Baird's plan to regulate 17 key industrial sectors.
Mr. Baird said Canada cannot meet its targets of reducing greenhouse gases if it does not compel capture and storage of the substances in the two key industries of coal-fired electricity and oilsands. Oilsands production alone is expected to create 25 per cent of Canada's carbon-dioxide emissions by 2020, up from the current level of about 18 per cent.
"We will not be able to make our targets for 2050, let alone 2020, unless we mandate carbon capture and storage of all the oilsands projects," Baird said to the Globe and Mail.
In the case of oilsands and coal plants, this week's announcement would force plants that have yet to hit the drawing board to store their emissions rather than allowing them to escape and increase the amount of gases tagged as the cause of global warming.
By contrast, oilsands firms that have been in operation since before 2004 would be subject to the 18-per-cent reduction regime, while more stringent targets would be applied on firms that have been established since 2004 and on plants that are in the construction process.
Many industry players have said they will not implement carbon capture technology unless the province provides some funding assistance.
"The issue of carbon capture and sequestration is very expensive and there is no infrastructure," said Charlie Fischer, CEO of Nexen Inc. "There would have to be some public funding that would work with corporate funding to support these things."
Brent Lakeman, a spokesperson for the Alberta Research Council, said carbon capture is critical if Canada is to reach its emission targets.
"We're talking now of implementing it on a much larger scale," he said. "We would be looking at very significant monitoring initiatives to understand what is happening to the fate of the CO2, how is it behaving."
With files from Scott Roberts and the Globe and Mail
