As with most memorable trips, getting there was half the fun.
With the residents of Estevan and most of southeast Saskatchewan realizing the potential importance of having a for real, first class clean coal project launched in our midst, it wasn’t difficult to get the bandwagon rolling.
Estevan isn’t known as the Energy City for nothing. It’s a deserved title and one that local citizens take pride in.
Business leaders and the general population, having had SaskPower as a corporate partner and neighbour for decades, set out to convince the corporation’s administration and technical experts that it could be done. There was a lot of persuading to do with politicians at the provincial and federal levels, getting them on the same assurance levels as the local citizenry.
With all this in mind, a local committee was formed to begin the task of gentle and sometimes not-so-gentle persuasion at various levels of government, that a carbon dioxide capture system could work at Boundary Dam.
The local Clean Coal Coalition Committee took form as early as 2007, with the first few tentative steps being taken as the group examined what they might be able to do and where their parameters were going to be placed.
The more serious business of getting the message out that Estevan and yes, even the world, was ready for a commercial sized CO2 capture project, began on Jan. 24, 2008 with a follow-up meeting held less than a month later.
