New coal initiative saving jobs and communities: Coronach mayor

The Saskatchewan government is taking a step towards what it says is clean coal.

On Tuesday, it announced $550,000 towards a research project, operated by Videre Energy, to find the best method of cleaning coal in the province.

The initiative is because of federal regulations that require all coal-fired power stations to be decommissioned after 50 years of operation or to close by 2030, whichever comes first.

The provincial funding will help the town of Coronach and surrounding rural municipalities keep the lights on in the mines.

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Coronach Mayor Cal Martin got emotional when speaking about the plan’s impact on his community.

“If we didn’t have this project going forward, we’d be rolling up sidewalks and I don’t want to do that. Not on my watch,” said Martin.

He has only lived in Coronach for a short period of time — five years, to be exact — but he understands the importance of the coal mines to southern Saskatchewan and his town.

Without the opportunity to transition to cleaner coal, he said 600 jobs would be lost.

“That’s two-thirds of my population if they closed (mines) down. It would be total devastation,” Martin said.

He’s grateful for the provincial government for helping the community get to this point, saying the federal government left towns like his behind when it announced its regulations on coal-fired power stations.

“We spend a lot of time in Ottawa dealing with our politicians there, and it was a lot easier at home, I can tell you,” Martin said.

He’s hopeful for the future and is excited to continue his partnership with Videre Energy and surrounding communities.

“We’re really excited. I’m looking forward to this. We have positive things for the first time in a long time,” Martin said.

Coal transition

The research project funded by the government for $550,000 is the first step to finding the best method of reducing emissions from coal.

Nathan Campbell, the president of Videre Energy, is running the research project.

“Through this project, we’re looking to convert the lignite coal into various byproducts, some of which would be agricultural,” Campbell said.

The research is in the very early stages and Campbell couldn’t provide many details as to how coal can be more clean.

Nathan Campbell, the president of Videre Energy, believes it’s the first company in Saskatchewan to work with lignite coal. (Nicole Garn/980 CJME)

“We’ll get back to you once our reporting is done. Some of that is confidential right now,” he said.

Campbell said Videre made the request for the money from the government to fund the research project.

“We have worked with the South Saskatchewan Ready in getting to this point. This ask was in conjunction with getting the reporting done and then progressing with the small-scale demonstration plant,” he said.

South Saskatchewan Ready is an economic alliance of nine rural communities and municipalities in south-central Saskatchewan, of which Coronach is a part.

Campbell isn’t sure of a price tag or timeline on the transition.

“We are going to pull it out of the ground for the same cost that we pull it out of the ground today and use it in products that are transformational in nature,” he said.

The project has been in the works for five years. Campbell thinks the wait was worth it.

“Our team has worked with a tremendous amount of people,” he said. “We’ve been in front of the federal government in requesting their assistance and moving this transformation through. So far, we haven’t got much help from them and the province has stepped up to make sure that we are able to find an option that is viable as quick as possible.”