Regina gets $1.3 million to reduce GHG
The federal government has announced $1.3 million in funding for the City of Regina to expand its landfill-gas-collection system, helping reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced by the landfill by up to 30 per cent.
“This investment will help us expand the project with the addition of up to 30 new gas wells and the infrastructure that comes along with that,” Mayor Michael Fougere during an announcement at Regina City Hall Tuesday morning.
Fougere called the collection system a successful endeavour and a “remarkable addition” to the city, providing an opportunity to reduce GHGS while also providing a new source a revenue through an energy transfer agreement with Saskpower.
The agreement currently results in $1 million a year in revenue for the city.
The landfill-gas-collection system consists of 30 wells drilled in the landfill hill, said manager of environmental services for the city, Greg Kuntz.
“The waste has been placed over the past 50 years, give or take, and essentially it rots and it forms methane in the landfill. What we’re doing is extracting that methane and burning it off on a flare. It converts the methane to carbon dioxide which is much less harmful as a greenhouse gas.”
Kuntz said without the expansion, the city would not be able to reach its 30-per-cent target of reducing GHG emissions produced by the landfill.
The expansion is the first of many Saskatchewan projects to receive money from the Low Carbon Economy Fund, which invests in projects that reduce carbon pollution, save money and create “good jobs in a clean economy.”
“The problem for all of us is too much pollution,” said federal Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Ralph Goodale, adding it makes basic economic, social, health, environmental and intergenerational sense to get serious about polluting less.
“An economy that emits fewer greenhouse gases and thus contributes less to climate change is an economy that is ultimately more resilient, less vulnerable and more cost-efficient,” Goodale said.
Goodale spoke about the Prairies being one of the regions in Canada most susceptible to “less stable and more volatile” climates, which is evident in the more frequent and severe weather patterns.
He said a serious climate plan, “the cheapest and most costeffective plan,” also means a price on pollution, but done in way that creates a positive incentive, not a penalty.
“More a carrot, than a stick,” he said.
Goodale said the timing of the announcement was coincidental as the provincial and federal governments gear up to argue their sides in a constitutional reference case on carbon tax Wednesday.
The Saskatchewan government is asking its Court of Appeal for a legal opinion on whether Ottawa’s Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act is constitutional.
While not technically binding, both governments are near certain to comply with the outcome — unless the loser succeeds in kicking it up to the Supreme Court.
Fougere said the city is excited about the expansion made possible by federal funding and said achieving a sustainable future means not only looking at the services the city provides, but the “outcomes of those services.”
“Improving the project helps us improve the future of our city,” Fougere said.