The editor:
Thank you Mr. Eric Reguly of the Globe & Mail for your balanced opinion in a recent column.
Thirty-six years ago, I arrived in Estevan with some trepidation. A nasty cloud hovered over the city most days, and our vehicles were often covered in a fine grit in the morning.
Like everyone in this country, I want to breathe clean air, and our coal-fired power plants frightened me. Fast forward to 2021, and I can assure you that the cloud is non-existent, and the only dust on vehicles is from agriculture.
Over the last 30-plus years, scrubbers and precipitators were added to the stacks to eliminate noxious chemicals. In 2014, our public utility, SaskPower, implemented the first carbon capture technology on Unit 3, with plans to convert other units over time; a plan that seems permanently "on hold" since our federal government refuses to endorse it.
We have industry leaders from China and India making regular visits to Boundary Dam to examine the test unit and see what "clean coal" really means.
Unfortunately, our zeal for all things "green" has ignored the real positive impact carbon capture technology can have on fossil fuels – in particular natural gas and coal. We are headed in a direction that may leave us in the dark and the cold.
We are a country that relies on baseload power during peak times in winter and summer. Until green technology can reliably replace our current system, we have to find a reasonable way to improve the use of fossil fuels.
By the way, carbon capture technology is green.
Lynn Chipley
Estevan
