If there’s one thing that will get people to come to a meeting in Estevan these days, it’s economic development. With the elephant in the room being the future of coal-fired electrical power generation, there seems to be an ever-increasing interest in what the community is doing about its future.
That was evident on Jan. 8 during the Estevan Chamber of Commerce’s Coffee Talk with the city’s economic development co-ordinator Dwight Bramble. Fifty-seven people were in attendance at the Days Inn, nearly filling the room. As Mayor Roy Ludwig said later, “Every meeting, there’s more people coming. We’re looking at that as a positive.”
Bramble spoke for half an hour about the various and numerous economic initiatives the city has been pursuing. And he alluded to that elephant, implying that the years 2021 and 2024 will be significant. Those are the expected shutdown dates of two coal-fired units at Boundary Dam Power Station.
He noted that $25 million has been allocated for communities transitioning out of coal, and for Estevan, that meant hiring a coal transition co-ordinator.
As for economic development initiatives, Bramble touched on many. The city is working on a business resources centre/incubator to support local small business.
“We expect it will expand into something bigger,” he said, adding more details are expected at the end of January.
The economic transition committee has had involvement from the federal and provincial governments, the coal mines, SaskPower, coal and power unions.
“Estevan has some natural challenges. We really have to convince people to come here,” he said. To that end, Bramble went on trade missions to both the Netherlands and Vietnam. The Netherlands visit, which included the mayor, was meant to connect with compatible businesses along with the city’s five priorities. Those are agri-value, greenhouses, geothermal, manufacturing and warehousing.
The Vietnam visit referenced the possibility of selling coal to that burgeoning economy. Indeed, immediately after the coffee talk, Bramble had to leave to take part in a tour of Estevan’s coal facilities with someone from Vietnam. He added Westmoreland Mining already sells coal to Japan from an Alberta mine.
Bramble spoke of greenhouse development in the future. One of Estevan’s advantages in this facet is the amount of sunlight it receives.
Along those lines, the city has worked with Saturn Power to submit a 10-megawatt solar plant proposal to SaskPower.
“We’ve been in contact with several cannabis companies, including Invictus, Aurora and Canopy,” he said. The discussions are more about a processing facility for waste material as opposed to growing, as that market may already be saturated.
Craft brewing/distilling is another opportunity, according to Bramble.
He also mentioned the possibility of increased flight training at Estevan’s airport.
Nuclear power generation with small modular reactors is another front he’s working on. “We have the grid here already and the infrastructure to support that type of industry,” he said.
Ludwig pointed out it would be at least 10 years from a commitment to an operating nuclear facility.
“We plan to engage in a prolific marketing strategy. We cannot sit back and wait for people to come to us. We have to go and sell Estevan,” Bramble said.
The city is working on a strategic plan for 2020 which Bramble referenced several times. He noted that local involvement is paramount.
“I know there are a lot of concerns here. I would like to suggest we make our dreams bigger than our fears,” Bramble said. “We are always going to issues that we have don’t have control over, that we can’t predict the future. But we can dream. We can dream big.
“We have to be willing to change. We have to be willing to do things different. If we continue to do what we’ve always done, we will continue to get what we’ve always got.”
Asked where the oil industry is in this, Bramble said those Vietnam investors are interested in purchasing oil from here.
City manager Jeff Ward added the city is talking to oil companies about establishing field offices here.
Ludwig said the city is getting involved with Whitecap Resources, which has previously expressed an interest in acquiring more carbon dioxide for its enhanced oil recovery project in the Weyburn Unit.
Other members of the economic development committee piped up. Josh Biggs said, “We’ve talked about warehousing and manufacturing,” noting it would be oil-related.
Josh LeBlanc said, “It would be irresponsible to not look at diversification, so we don’t experience what we’re experiencing now, the booms and busts.”
He implored the community to get involved. “We need more of an outcry from you guys. Oil is out of our control. We need the community to rally together. I’ve been saying this for two years.”
