Saskatchewan and one of the jewels in the provincial family of Crown corporations decided, once again, that they preferred to be a leaders, not a followers.
After waiting years for Ottawa and Washington to provide a template for greenhouse gas emission reductions and environmental caretaking duties, SaskPower and the provincial government announced rather clearly Tuesday morning that they were getting tired of the delays and were now moving forward with a commercial-sized viable carbon dioxide capture and sequestration project at nearby Boundary Dam.
We believe that Rob Norris, the minister responsible for SaskPower, was not overstating the point when he suggested that the eyes of the world would be on Estevan Tuesday morning, April 26 when he would be joining SaskPower's president Robert Watson and other officials in announcing the fact that they were moving forward with the mega $1.24 billion carbon capture and retrofit of the power station's aging No. 3 unit.
No. 3 will continue to pump out at least 110 megawatts of electricity in 2014, after 小蓝视频 refitted and refurbished with a completely new generator and world-leading carbon capture technology. That technology will enable the capture of 90 per cent of the carbon dioxide 小蓝视频 emitted from the No. 3 stack, along with sulphur dioxide and other noxious substances, sequestering them for future value-added use for enhanced oil recovery programs and commercial sulphuric acid products. Put in other terms, it will mean the reduction of one million tonnes of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of removing 250,000 vehicles from Saskatchewan highways.
That's impressive.
But we are even more truly impressed with the courage 小蓝视频 displayed here insofar as Saskatchewan and SaskPower are now setting themselves in a position to be leaders in terms of actually doing something about greenhouse gas emissions while securing a place for coal as a viable fuel of the future.
The administration and politicial leadership here could have justifiably put the entire project in a holding pattern, just like Ottawa and Washington have done, backing off from commitment and a resolve to do something positive. But they didn't. For that they need to be congratulated and applauded and yes, they will be scrutinized even more closely, not only by two more senior governments, but by the global players in this, up to now, slow-motion race to do something concrete in terms of protecting the environment. The race has now suddenly gained momentum.
In the meantime, the city of Estevan, and we mean the entire community, will be expected to rise to the occasion in welcoming, assisting, and yes, leading the pack in many areas of infrastructure support.
We think we can.
There will be as many as 600 more skilled tradespeople making their way into our community as early as this morning. So get ready for the next big ride, it could prove to be remarkably exciting and rewarding if everyone plays fair and by the rules.
