The provincial government has staked its claim on its energy future, with a recent letter to SaskPower employees reiterating that it would continue to operate coal plants past 2030. The province announced additional support for coal power plants earlier this year, with promises to expand the coal-powered units past their current lifespan.
Estevan Mayor Tony Sernick has been fighting to keep coal power running for the province, and was excited to hear the news.
"Oh, it's a relief. It's been a relief since they kind of brought it out in February there, and then it obviously came to fruition last week. They did keep it a secret, which is really good, as they wanted to let the employees of the mines and the power plants know firsthand. So that was good, and yeah, it's just a bit of relief, and let's get things built going forward."
The letter specifically mentioned Estevan's Boundary Dam power units, saying that Unit 4 would receive a refurbishment and return to service.
Sernick says that Estevan can play an important part in what the province calls an "all-approaches" method for energy security.
"Obviously, like I said, rebuilding the future we all know is nuclear, or whatever may come, but everything is just not there yet. So that's always been the message I carried, was the decision to shut everything off without replacement was always a bad decision. So thankfully, cooler heads prevailed, and we can bridge the gap into the future, whatever that may bring."
The letter mentioned some of the opposition the province might see from their decision, with the federal government wanting to see an end to coal power by 2030.
Sernick says they're keeping a close eye on any developments on the dispute.
"We'll wait and see what happens with the federal government. Obviously, you could switch to gas, but as Minister (Jeremy) Harrison kind of stated in a meeting, whether we switch to coal or gas, somebody's going to jail anyway. So we might as well just keep it with coal."
"Saskatchewan owns the coal. The people of Saskatchewan own the coal, where the gas would be imported from the USA and Alberta, and other places other than Saskatchewan. So why not use what we have today to get us to where we want to be?"
Since the letter was released, Sernick says he's been hearing a lot of excitement in the local community about coal staying in Estevan.
"I've heard from a bunch of people. Obviously, the union's been involved, right? So it's been a whirlwind the past few days. The phone has finally calmed down, but basically every news outlet you can imagine wanted the interview, right? So it's good that it made national news, and like I said, we'll see where it all goes, and hopefully the federal government's on board with it to use what we have to get us to the future."
The province stated in their release that they will also commit to life-extending work for all the coal units at the Boundary Dam, Poplar River, and Shand Power Stations.