“For me it’s not so much about saving the planet. I’m not an environmental catastrophist,” Carter says. “I’m concerned about the planet. I’m also concerned about generating a society of opportunity where everybody participates in the good things like education, jobs and health care. For me it’s a case of helping to develop our energy resources responsibly to the fullest of our capabilities.”

He sounds a note of urgency. He tackles his environmental role with an air of rolling up his sleeves for brisk action on pushing a project with no time to waste because it is a complicated web of partnerships, regulatory approvals, construction and operations. By historical standards for implementing new industrial methods on a large scale, the cleanup target date of 2050 sets a tight schedule, says the oil sands veteran.

“The reality is these are very complex and expensive technologies,” Carter says. The current credit crisis and oil price gyrations do not create excuses for any delays, he adds.

To have a carbon capture and storage network capable of the provincial cleanup goal operating by 2050, he sets a target of 2015 for building prototype systems as pilot projects. New industrial technology requires extended field trials followed by time to design, build and take bugs out of full-sized versions.

“I don’t think we can afford to back off. We’re going to have to be diligent to be up and running by 2015. We can’t afford to move off to the sidelines just because the economy might be slowing down a bit,” Carter says.

The dollar value of reducing greenhouse gas exhaust – or the price of emissions, depending on who’s counting – remains “a huge unknown,” he says. He blames slow and uncertain starts by carbon credit markets, coupled with ill-defined national and international environmental policies that keep the area murky. “That’s part of what makes this so challenging. You’re setting out to make huge investments when you don’t know the price for the results. It’s a learn-as-you-go effort,” Carter says.

“It’s not unlike the early oil sands investments. It was really hard to justify them on the basis of the price of oil. It (the justification) was an idea that you needed to get into the business and learn how to develop them. We would not be in the position we are now if we had not had those brave, bold investments.”

Carbon capture and storage, including big pipeline systems to connect emission sources and geological storage sites, is the latest entry in a grand Canadian tradition of hybrid public and industrial works like the 19th- century railways, Carter suggests. “Sometimes there are these nation-building endeavors to move a country forward. This is like that.”

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