When it comes to coal, residents of Estevan believe it is still an acceptable power source with the addition of the carbon capture facility, which went online last October.
Coal and a number of other prominent topics were part of a recent online poll conducted by Insightrix Research Inc., a full-service market research firm based in Saskatoon.
Eighty-four per cent of residents in Estevan support carbon capture technology and agree that CCS is an acceptable means of pursuing coal-based power.
The $1.4 billion Carbon Capture project at BD3 is a project aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, while also selling the captured CO2 to Cenovus Energy Inc. who then use it to their nearby well sites to be used for enhanced oil recovery systems.
In an interview with the Mercury in October 2014, Mike Monea, SaskPower’s president of carbon capture and storage initiatives, said that he doesn’t think they will actually recoup the cost on this project by selling the captured carbon between $20 and $30 per tonne.
Premier Brad Wall has said that as the technology moves forward, the sale of CO2 won’t be as necessary as it is today.
Residents of Estevan are also support the use of public-private partnerships or P3’s to fund health care, education and other services. Sixty-eight per cent indicated their support for these methods, while 22 per cent did not. Ten per cent did not know.
According to the poll, 61 per cent of residents say enough is being done to encourage the addition of new rental units to the Estevan accommodation market.
Estevan currently has a buyer’s market when it comes to housing, while pricing for rental units, which are still relatively high, have dropped recently in tandem with the lower oil prices. It continues to be the highest average rent in Saskatchewan. However, there are available rental units; perhaps more than there have been since before 2010.
Personal impacts from the lower oil prices are slightly mixed. Twenty-four per cent indicate a positive impact from the lower prices, while 38 per cent say its affected them negatively. Thirty-seven per cent say there has been no impact at all.
The drop in oil prices has resulted in dramatic drops in gas prices, which in Saskatchewan, currently hovers at around 91 cents per litre, according to saskgasprices.com
Views on people outside of the community were also mixed. Forty-five per cent of residents indicated that the transient nature of oilfield workers has had a negative impact on the perception of people outside of the community.
Twenty-six per cent of people said that it has not changed their views, while 23 per cent say they have improved their opinion and 16 per cent didn’t know.
A total of 300 randomly selected Estevan residents participated in the research study, which was conducted over the telephone from Jan. 19 to Feb. 2.
