It must be somewhat frustrating for Premier Brad Wall and his cohorts in the resources, environment, energy and SaskPower offices to have to continually retell the ill-informed critics that Saskatchewan is, indeed, addressing the problem of climate change, greenhouse gas emissions et al.
In fact, this province is a leader in carbon capture and green technology thanks to a $1 billion plus investment in the Boundary Dam Unit 3 carbon capture island and ensuing sequestration program. No other province has put that kind of investment into a greenhouse gas solution.
This is a total package approach too, including a global testing facility set up at the sister power generating station at Shand. This is the place where others can come to test their own capture technologies in a live setting that won’t require them to make suppositions, but rather provide hard data and fact-driven results.
We have to believe the critics who have lined up to lambaste Saskatchewan for not doing enough on the climate change front, accusing our officials of being stubborn by not jumping aboard the carbon pricing bus, are picking on the province because they don’t like the idea that Saskatchewan is choosing to do the homework on clean coal. They would prefer to see Wall and company set the clock on coal’s removal on the power production side, and focus entirely on renewable electrical power generating tactics.
They don’t like the idea that there is a solution on the coal-fueled power production side of the equation because that spoils their momentum on the wind and solar fronts.
Instead of accepting the hard facts that carbon capture does work, and will be cost-effective, they choose to keep pointing only in the two directions of solar and wind solutions, which still require subsidization in one form or another in order to be cost-effective. Also, as noted with the recent refusal of a wind-powered project near Chaplin, they come with their own set of challenges and critics.
That is not to say SaskPower and friends should be refusing wind and solar projects. In fact, they are not. A promising solar project has been launched and wind turbine generators are already in play and more are coming. But, the proponents cannot claim that these projects will not come without their own set of detractors and we don’t mean climate change deniers, but rather the common, everyday issues that will make turbines and panels less desirable than what is being promised and promoted. After all, they too, will take up space, create problems for neighbours, require oil to manufacture and run, need maintenance and replacement on a regular basis and access to them and the grid system. They will also have to deliver base-load power if they are truly going to become part of the electrical power solution.
From this corner, and of course, we come with prejudices attached, we would love to see SaskPower make the decision to continue down the carbon capture path since it is a solution. Saskatchewan’s contribution to the greenhouse gas world is less than one-tenth of one per cent. If we do follow that path, then we can provide solutions for the real polluters in China and India who will not be able to escape the use of non-renewable power generating sources for decades. They can ride our carbon capture bus until the renewable products are genuinely able to carry the huge, unsubsidized load.
So let’s look at BD3 for what it is … a leading edge realistic solution in the making.
We believe that’s a lot more than most other jurisdictions are producing.
Saskatchewan is acting and proving while the others are still talking about carbon prices.
