Alberta Government Drafts Bill 24 To Regulate CO2 Storage

p>The Alberta government has recently drafted legislation, Bill 24, Carbon Capture and Storage Statutes Amendment Act, 2010, 3^rd Sess., 27^th Leg., Alberta, 2010 which clarifies ownership of pore space and that would, if passed, make Alberta the first province in Canada to enact comprehensive legislation to regulate large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects. Under Bill 24, the Alberta government would own subsurface pore spaces where carbon dioxide is stored and would assume long-term liability for injected carbon dioxide once project operators provide data that the gas is contained. Bill 24 would also create a special fund financed by CCS operators that would pay for future monitoring of underground carbon dioxide storage sites and any necessary remediation.