Trudeau, Ottawa announce $25M for Sask. geothermal plant

Skirting a question about a potential court challenge over the federal carbon tax, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was at a geothermal lab in Regina on Friday to announce a new funding package for a geothermal power project set to built near Estevan.

Trudeau announced Ottawa is committing $25.6 million for a private-sector project, pitched and to be built by local geothermal company DEEP.

The money is coming from Natural Resources Canada’s program called Emerging Renewable Power.

The power plant will use deep-earth water, drilled from more than three kilometres underground, to create electricity by bringing that water to the surface and converting it to energy.

A news release from the government said the five-megawatt plant will power about 5,000 homes in the Estevan area; the total cost of the project is pegged at $51.3 million.

Trudeau touted the project as one example of how Canada is transitioning away from sole reliance on fossil fuels to renewable ways of creating energy.

The announcement prompted reporters to ask the Prime Minister about the yet-to-be implemented carbon tax; they asked him what his “plan B” will be, should the tax face a constitutional challenge in court.

He avoided a direct answer to the question.

“I think it is well established that the environment doesn’t obey political borders. It doesn’t stop at a provincial border or an international border when you talk about pollution into the atmosphere,” he said. “That’s why the federal government has and has always had responsibility over the environment.”

He said Ottawa’s focus on “putting a price on pollution is simple: There is too much pollution in our atmosphere, because for too long pollution has been free. By putting a price on pollution, we will get less of it. As industries and polluters choose to pollute less.”

The news release on the DEEP power plant also said it will divert any excess power to a 45-acre greenhouse for commercial use.

— With files from 980 CJME’s Britton Gray