East End– Pipeline News asked each of the four federal candidates in the riding of Cypress Hills Grasslands a series of questions on energy, with a focus on issues in that particular riding. These are the responses of William Caton, candidate for the Green Party. He spoke with Pipeline News by phone on Sept.16.
Pipeline News: Southwest Saskatchewan was the primary area for natural gas production in this province, but the drop in gas prices in recent years has caused drilling for natural gas to all but cease. What is your take on this development?
William Caton: I think the price of gas is totally dependent on what the Americans do. They’ve got so much gas right now, I don’t see the price coming back until they change their policy. I don’t see them changing it for quite a few years. It’s all supply and demand, and they’ve got an oversupply right now, but I don’t see them backing off that. I don’t see the price of gas coming back for at least five years, do you?
My guess, and this is just a guess since my industry is the ranching and cattle, the beef industry, but what I read about what’s going on in gas and oil, if it stays this low, there’s going to be a lot of oil and gas shut down because they’re losing too much money. When that happens, we’ll have a shortage again and then prices will go up through the roof. But how long that’s going to take, I don’t know. My guess is maybe five years.
P.N.: The oil industry has taken up a lot of the slack from the decline of natural gas in southwest Saskatchewan. However, declining oil prices has caused all drilling to cease in the Shaunavon area as of early September. How is this going to impact your riding, and what will you do to help the energy industry in your riding?
Caton: I go right back to my first answer. We’re totally dependent on world prices of oil. It’s all supply and demand. I think the oil industry in this constituency, Cypress Hills-Grasslands, is going to be fine. They’re getting their oil out of the ground at approximately $30 a barrel, where they’re up to $100 a barrel at Fort McMurray.
If this price stays where it is for five years, which it could, this constituency will be fine. I agree with you, there’s not very much drilling going on, but any drilling that does go on in Western Canada will be done here, because they can get the oil out of the ground at $30 a barrel instead of $100.
We’re totally dependent on world prices. All the industry can do is ride it out. What of the Americans and how much oil they’re going to pipe from Iran? We have zero to do with that. The places that are costing $100 a barrel to get it out, they’re going to have to stop production because they’re going to lose too much money. But we’re going to be fine here. There’s going to be minimal drilling and exploration, but the little bit of exploration will be done here. That’s my guess, but it’s just a guess.
P.N.: With oil prices having been in serious decline since the summer of 2014, and now drilling activity drying up, the industry is going from bad times to worse, with thousands of job losses, businesses in serious trouble and home values in oilpatch towns taking a beating. What, if anything, should the federal government do to help this industry now in crisis?
Caton: Again, my answer is the federal government should encourage the switch to renewables. Now is the time. Solar, wind and thermal
In Saskatchewan, 95 per cent of our power right now is coal and natural gas, about half and half, five per cent is wind and water. If we started building solar in this constituency, that would be so many jobs. SaskPower could be producing half of its power with solar in about five years.
So many jobs, that’s where the money should go. Let the oil industry ride out the world prices and start building solar. Seven jobs for every one of somebody that can’t work right now because he was an oilpatch guy.
The agriculture industry needs diesel for our tractors, no question. John Deere is actually putting a 265 horsepower electric tractor on the market in Europe. It’s coming. We’re going to have electric tractors. For sure, we’re five or ten years away.
We’re going to keep producing oil in places like Shaunavon and Kindersley. We’re going to need that oil. There isn’t going to be a fast switch to electricity. But 10, 15, 20 years from now, I think farmers will be driving electric tractors.
P.N.: SaskPower has announced a new natural-gas fired power plant for Swift Current. Most of Saskatchewan’s wind-powered electrical production is within this riding. What do you see for our electrical generating future, especially given concerns about climate change?
Caton: First off, I think the Saskatchewan government cancel that natural gas-fired power plant. Methane is a worse greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Methane doesn’t stay in the atmosphere as long, but it makes it hotter than carbon dioxide and faster. I think the Saskatchewan government should be pushing renewables, solar, wind and thermal.
This constituency should be building all of that stuff and get right off of coal and natural gas. Push the renewables, that’s my opinion.
In Alberta, for 15 years, if any community or person sets up renewable energy, the Alberta energy will swap them dollar-for-dollar, kilowatt-for-kilowatt. In Saskatchewan, they claim they are doing that, but they’re not. Anybody or any community doing that has to negotiate and the Saskatchewan government will not give them dollar-for-dollar. Their claim is it’s a big expense to the grid, which it could be, maintaining the grid, but if I set up a solar panel or wind generation here, they’ll try to take my power from me for about a tenth of what I take from them. It should be at par. Lots of individuals and communities would start going to renewables. The technology is there to do it.
