Lindsey Graham, Sheldon Whitehouse tour coal-fired plant with new technology

American politicians Lindsey Graham, Sheldon Whitehouse and Tom Rice toured an innovative coal-fired power plant in southeast Saskatchewan Wednesday that includes new technology to reduce carbon emissions.

The trio were guests of Premier Brad Wall who has been touting the $1.4 billion publicly-funded mega-project as a way to meet carbon reduction targets.

The provincial Crown corporation SaskPower built and operates the power station at its Boundary Dam facilities near Estevan, Sask., dubbed Carbon Capture and Sequestion or CCS.

Sen. Graham, who is campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination, said he was impressed.

"This plant makes eminent sense to me," Graham said.

He said the technology should appeal to many, for different reasons.

"For those that want to clean up the air and lower our carbon emissions and for people like me that want to create more energy independence," he said.

Graham was on the tour with Rice, a Republican Congressman from South Carolina and Whitehouse, a Democratic Senator from Rhode Island.

Whitehouse noted there was potential in the Boundary Dam technology.

"We really need to be focused not just on warnings about [climate change] but also on opportunities and solutions and what's happening right here is a really remarkable opportunity and potential solution," he said.

SaskPower claims its technology works and it is able to reduce CO2 emissions by 90 per cent.

Wall has promoted the technology with tours for industry and political figures from around the world.

Graham believes more visits are on the way.

"We need to come up here and understand how you did it," he said. "You've proven one thing. If you build it they will come."

The issue of coal-fired power plants, and their emissions, is important in many jurisdictions.

Earlier in August, U.S. President Barack Obama announced a clean power plan that would set requirements for lower emissions of greenhouse gases.