Ontario's Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry says the province is taking a phased approach to approving the underground storage of carbon dioxide (CO2).
Minister Graydon Smith was at the Oil Museum of Canada in Oil Springs Wednesday morning to talk about a carbon storage project.
As outlined by the province, Ontario is taking steps to encourage innovation and reduce emissions by enabling industries to begin testing and demonstrating small-scale underground carbon storage projects on private land.
According to Smith, carbon storage is new to Ontario but not a new topic.
Carbon storage involves capturing CO2 from large emission sources so that it can be compressed and eventually injected into underground rock formations.
Smith said the province is currently in the midst of phase two, which means demonstration of the technology to ensure its viability.
"We want to make sure that these projects are relatively small-scale and projects that have some defined barriers around them and we're happy to work with private land and private companies to do these projects," he said.
Smith believes the geology works in southwestern Ontario, including Sarnia and Lambton County.
He said industries have already expressed to the provincial government their interest.
"There's conversations that are going on but we haven't made any selections yet as to who will be the demonstration project," Smith said.
He also believes this announcement allows the province and industries to have two-way dialogue on what the capabilities are.
The goal is for the province to see full commercialization by 2025 and next year some companies will be approved for the demonstration process.
"It's an aggressive timeline and one we want to work through relatively quickly. Obviously there's great interest from the industry and from the public as well," Smith said.
Additionally, Ontario will be looking at other Canadian jurisdictions where there are already carbon storage projects and exploring options to access underground space that is used for this.
"One thing that we want to make sure is that this is a well thought out, very safe process for everyone that is contributing to an opportunity for companies and the government as a whole to reach emissions goals," Smith said.
An updated roadmap will include immediate focus discussions and a clear timeline for public consultations, which are expected to begin in the new year.
The implementation of underground CO2 storage is believed to bring in new jobs, specifically in Lambton County and help industries reduce emissions.
