Editor's note: In this two-part series, the Independent Record examines Canadian oil sands production, its impact on the economy and the environment, and the potential connection to Montana's own energy development.

WEYBURN, Saskatchewan -- A promise to capture 95 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions is an integral part of a planned $7 billion coal-to-liquids fuel plant on the Crow Agency reservation, which was unveiled earlier this month by Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer.

It's an ambitious goal, underscored by international concerns about the contribution carbon dioxide -- often referred to as greenhouse gas -- has toward global warming.

But while many people agree that capturing and storing underground carbon dioxide from power plants is an important effort, opinions differ as to whether it's feasible and safe.

Two billion-dollar pilot projects just across the Canadian border may provide some answers to those questions.

South of the small farming town of Weyburn, the oil company EnCana is actually importing -- and paying for -- carbon dioxide via a 180-mile pipeline from a Beulah, N.D., power plant.

Even closer to the U.S.-Canada border, SaskPower plans to convert a 1958 coal-fired power plant into a model in its so-called "Clean Co2al Product."

Carbon dioxide, or CO2, is created when humans burn fuels like coal, oil and natural gas that contain carbon, which combines with oxygen in the air.

This CO2 has been compared to a glass roof on a greenhouse. It lets in sunlight, which heats the earth; but when that heat tries to radiate into the sky, the carbon dioxide acts like a mirror and reflects the warmth. Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius first described the so-called "greenhouse effect" in 1896.

Carbon dioxide is emitted by humans when we breathe, is injected into soda to make it fizzy and is absorbed by green plants as part of the photosynthesis process.

But as humans burn more coal, oil and natural gas, the CO2 buildup in the atmosphere increases. It's estimated that carbon emissions must drop by 80 percent by the year 2050 to stop or lessen global warming.

EnCana is using the North Dakota CO2 in a process called enhanced oil recovery, which involves injecting the gas into oil wells for better production. The company hopes to eventually entomb the gas deep inside the earth in a process known as carbon capture and sequestration.

Like any pilot project, this one has its risks. But if it works, it could play a key role in slowing global warming.

"It does seem like a win-win situation for most people," noted Dave Galt, executive director for the Montana Petroleum Association. "You put the carbon dioxide in the ground and it stimulates oil production, and when you finish that process the carbon remains sequestered.

"We're interested in it, but the challenges we face are in infrastructure development. Where is the carbon source and where is the need for it?"

Anne Hedges with the Montana Environmental Information Center is more leery.

"It's a big fat gamble and I, for one, am not an advocate for it yet," Hedges said.

Enhanced oil recovery

It takes about an hour to drive from Saskatchewan's capital, Regina, to Weyburn, along grain fields as far as the eye can see. Turn right onto Government Road, travel past the cattle in the Weyburn Livestock Exchange's feedlot and beyond the white stucco Ukrainian Catholic Church to get the first glimpse of the orange and black pump jacks, oval counterweights driving the mechanisms rhythmically up and down amid oats, barley and peas.

The pump jacks become more numerous near EnCana Corp.'s newly remodeled field office, where Darcy Cretin, Rhona DelFrari and Twila Walkeden are eager to discuss what's going on about 4,620 feet below the surface.

"There's been interest shown in this from around the world, including Central America and China," Walkeden said proudly. "We've given more than 240 tours, and had every continent represented."

Oil was discovered here in 1954. In 1964, EnCana began using water to help push the oil out of the wells.

Then, in 1997, the company struck a deal with the Great Plains Synfuel Plant in Beulah, N.D. Simply put, Great Plains built a 12- to 14-inch pipeline and EnCana bought the company's greenhouse-gas emissions, sent via the pipeline, for an undisclosed price.

"That's proprietary," noted Cretin.

Beginning in 2000, EnCana started injecting 2.2 million tons per year of carbon dioxide into its oilfields. That helps the Weyburn fields produce 20,000 barrels of oil a day that they wouldn't have without the CO2 -- up from production rates of 10,000 barrels per day. It's worked so well that EnCana drilled 200 new wells at its 53,000-acre site here in the past five years.

"The CO2 helps swell the oil that can't move, resulting in increased oil production," Cretin explained. "Fifteen of Canada's top producing wells are here."

This enhanced oil recovery, or EOR, isn't a new technique. It's been used in the Bakken oil fields that straddle the Montana-North Dakota border for years, as well as elsewhere in the United States.

It's the next step, however, that's drawing all eyes to Weyburn.

Forever is a long time

EnCana, in conjunction with various private and public entities, is trying to find ways to eventually entomb the carbon dioxide underground, once the oil wells no longer are producing. EnCana's best guess on the time frame for this sequestration to begin is anywhere from 30 to 100 years.

EnCana officials estimate that by the end of the project, they'll have injected 30 million metric tons of carbon dioxide underground, the equivalent of removing 6.7 million vehicles from the roads.

Numbers like that are of great interest to the oil industry, government officials and environmental groups. It's especially important as Montana looks at becoming home to three new coal processing plants, all of which will emit carbon dioxide and may need places to store it.

"We're looking at geological formations in Montana and have assessed several areas for storage of carbon dioxide," said Jayson O'Neill, a spokesperson for Schweitzer. "We need to find new ways to deal with carbon and are committed to that."

Most of the potential sites are in eastern Montana.

Hedges, with the Montana Environmental Information Center, believes carbon capture and sequestration has a place. But at this point, she's wary of its long-term impact and the lack of regulatory framework.

She points to a study done in Texas, where carbon dioxide injected underground turned the pH in a particular rock formation's brine from near neutral to something about as acidic as vinegar. That change prompted the dissolution of minerals like iron and manganese, plus large amounts of carbonate minerals.

The carbonates often seal fractures or holes in rock. If those are opened, it could release some of the sequestered CO2 into the air or underground water supplies. It also could eat away at the cement seals that plug many of the 2.5 million abandoned oil or gas wells in the United States.

"It wouldn't be a big bomb event, where carbon comes gushing out," Hedges noted. "But there could be groundwater contamination or slow leaks that take away any benefits from putting carbon underground.

"If it's your water body at risk, that's a real potential problem."

Yet the biggest obstacle in Hedges' mind is who will be liable for the carbon dioxide once it's stored underground, and who will be responsible for monitoring it.

Most oil wells are drilled by private companies on federal or private lands where the above-ground landowner doesn't own the below-the-surface mineral rights.

She also is worried that while carbon capture and sequestration will clear the way for additional plants that capture most of their greenhouse gases, it won't deal with existing ones that don't.

"Let's see if it works based upon problems we have now," Hedges said. "There may be a place for it, so I can't dismiss it totally out of hand. But building new plants (like Crow Agency) based upon the assumption this technology will work someday is really misguided."

She adds that storing carbon dioxide underground "forever" is a long time.

"Who will be monitoring it in 20, 40 or 100 years?" she asked.

Even if safety questions are resolved, there's the issue of logistics. Using carbon dioxide in a producing oil field makes economic sense, but it's expensive to lay the pipes and put together the means to get it from a CO2-emitting location to a carbon-sequestion field. The carbon dioxide also needs to be relatively pure.

Answers

Back in Saskatchewan, Max Ball is an engineer with SaskPower who thinks the company might have the answers to some of the concerns voiced by Hedges and others about carbon capture and sequestration at existing coal plants.

Canada is trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 33 percent by 2020. As part of the effort, the publicly owned SaskPower coal plant is in the early stages of a $1.4 billion project to build a new generating unit in its Boundary Dam coal plant, which would eventually capture and store about 1 million tons per year of carbon dioxide in oil fields near the 50-year-old plant.

"We think this will be the first time there's full integration of power plant cleanup with full CO2 capture," Ball said. "This is the first time we've integrated enhanced oil recovery with sequestration."

He anticipates the project will be completed in two stages; the first phase will be done by 2013, the second in 2015.

SaskPower is doing this, Ball said, to demonstrate there are business opportunities for carbon sequestration. The plant is in close proximity to coal reserves and saline aquifers that could be used to store the carbon dioxide emitted from the plant when the coal is burned to produce electricity.

"We recently experienced new demands for electricity growing at unprecedented rates," Ball said. "At the same time, our committed capacity is declining, because we have older units coming toward the end of their lives," which made it feasible to consider upgrading the old plant.

He added that there's a risk it might cost more to capture the CO2 than the plant will generate in revenues, but with a $240 million boost from the Canadian government, Ball figures "there's about a 95 percent chance that we'll like the numbers and have a good business case."

Oil issues to be discussed as part of sequestration study

A legislative committee will hear from a panel of experts on oil prices, oil production in Montana, oil taxation, and the impact higher oil prices may have on the Montana economy, as part of a 16-month study of carbon sequestration.

The Energy and Telecommunications Interim Committee will meet at 9 a.m. Thursday in Room 172 of the State Capitol in Helena. The public is invited to attend and will have a chance to comment. Speakers invited to participate in the discussion of oil issues are:

- John Felmy, chief economist, American Petroleum Institute;

- Tom Richmond, administrator, Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation;

- Beth Claude, manager, state and government affairs, Enbridge Pipelines, Inc.;

- Terry Johnson, principal fiscal analyst, Legislative Fiscal Division;

- Eric Dale, associate revenue analyst, Governor's Office of Budget and Program Planning;

- Bob Decker, executive director, The Policy Institute;

- Scott Rickard, director, Center for Applied Economic Research, Montana State University-Billings;

- Pat Barkey, director, Bureau of Business and Economic Research, University of Montana-Missoula.

Reporter Eve Byron: 447-4076 or eve.byron@helenair.com