Coal workers disappointed with Sask. NDP’s criticism of cost of plant refurbishment

Standing in the Saskatchewan Legislative Building, a large group of coal workers and community leaders from the province’s southeast added their voices to the government’s support of coal.

For the past week, the Saskatchewan NDP has been accusing the government of hiding the true cost of refurbishing and extending the life of the province’s three coal-power plants – tabling pictures of an internal SaskPower presentation that put the cost at $26 billion over the new 25-year life of the plants, including $11.4 billion in capital costs.

Read more:

• SaskPower rate hike is ‘a little frustrating’ for Regina’s The Everyday Kitchen
• VIDEO: Cameco halts production at Key Lake mill as bridge collapse impedes supply route
• SaskPower project to link Saskatchewan’s northern and southern power grids

The government argued that the $26B figure represents the cost of the refurbishment, but also includes the money for running, staffing and fueling the plants over two and a half decades. The province has been using a $2.6B number when talking about the cost of extending the life of the plants, which Jeremy Harrison, the minister responsible for SaskPower, has said is the more useful figure.

The NDP has also used the opportunity to point to its own power plan, saying extending coal is the most expensive option, but there are other ways SaskPower could turn that would be more cost effective.

On Friday, Ken Hoste, assistant business manager with IBEW 2067, one of the unions representing coal workers, wrote a letter expressing frustration with the NDP’s rhetoric.

“Our members deserve honesty, stability, and a realistic path forward for Saskatchewan’s energy future – not political theatre built on misleading numbers and ideologically driven narratives,” Hoste wrote.

On Monday, a number of workers from Estevan and Coronach, including Hoste, were at the legislature, standing alongside government members.

Harrison said the NDP was being dishonest in its representations, and accused the opposition party of making “direct attacks” on the communities and workers that rely on coal.

“These are not numbers. This is not some theoretical discussion. This is real stuff, real-world stuff for these folks here today,” said Harrison.

Ashley Johnson, the financial secretary for United Mineworkers Local 7606 in Estevan, said it’s not just a mine and SaskPower that would be affected if the refurbishment of the coal power plants doesn’t happen.

“It’s the teachers. It’s everybody. Canada Post right down to your people working at the 7-Eleven. Simple as that. It affects everybody,” he said.

He said it’s disappointing that, in his view, the NDP isn’t taking that into consideration.

Cal Martin, the mayor of Coronach, got emotional when talking about the extension for coal. He said the whole community was pretty sad when it was facing down the end of coal power, with two thirds of people there connected to either the mine or the power plant.

“If this hadn’t have been done, we’d be rolling up sidewalks. I can’t allow that to happen,” Martin said, his voice getting thick.

Tony Sernick, the mayor of Estevan, agreed, saying his city was on track to become a ghost town before the government announcement the extension of coal last year.

“This isn’t just about Estevan and Coronach… but it’s really about Saskatchewan. It’s very important, and we just cannot stress that importance of this reliability of our coal,” said Sernick.

They each also spoke about coal being reliable and contributing to the province’s energy security.

No end to coal in sight

Though Harrison and the Sask. Party government have been talking about extending the life of the coal-power plants as a bridge to get to nuclear power, Harrison indicated on Monday that the change doesn’t mean coal power will be wound down.

While saying SaskPower is still committing to a net-zero power grid by 2050, Harrison said his government has an “all of the above” approach to power, and won’t take any existing generation off the grid.

“We are going to be continuing to rely on thermal baseload power generation in Estevan and Coronach. That’s going to continue to be a very, very important part of what we’re doing,” said Harrison, referring to the immediate and medium term.

The minister said the NDP wants to shut down coal power immediately and switch to natural gas-generated power, though NDP SaskPower critic Aleana Young has said several times the NDP would continue running coal plants to the end of their lives. Harrison also expressed skepticism about the NDP’s commitment to nuclear power.

He said nuclear is a longer-term path. The province is already working on selecting a site in the Estevan area for small modular nuclear power, and has been working on pieces surrounding large-scale nuclear technology as well.