Now that our city has re-established and hopefully stabilized its inner administration workforce, it might be an opportune time for our civic leaders to set their sights on a few new files while retaining focus on the more mundane items.
The need to keep paying attention to such things as water and sewer line replacement, new pavement on well used streets and avenues every 15 years, new sidewalks and curbs and park improvements, are self explanatory. As noted in the past, when any one of these files are left unattended for even two years, the price of recovery is immense.
Three years of neglect ultimately leads to 10 years of recovery and debt repayments, using money that should be directed toward more maintenance, but instead, goes to banks to improve dividends for shareholders, doing nothing to improve lifestyles for Energy City residents. It becomes a vicious circle of lost revenues and civic improvements.
So, while we urge continued focus on infrastructure and debt repayment, we also suggest this might be a perfect opportunity for our council and employees to cast their eyes toward the future.
With the economic development and tourism agencies once again in the embrace of City Hall, and with a fresh working relationship with the Chamber of Commerce, maybe it’s the right time to have another look at the establishment of an Energy City sustainability committee.
We know Estevan had such a committee before, comprised of a mixture of local business owners, employees, citizens, city employees and elected members.
At that time, businesses were bouncing and corporate Estevan had little time to think about the future. We were all too busy trying to get rich quickly with an upsurge in the oilpatch and ongoing improvements at power stations and building two new dams. Our futures were bright back then and we only had to focus on the present to make good things happen, even if the bills were to be paid later. We obviously would be able to take care of our future.
Well, it’s back to the future time.
With the green is good community putting excessive pressure on coal-fueled power plants and with the Middle East (OPEC) maintaining stiff competition in the oil supply business, this might be a good time to start discussing what Estevan might look like in 2045, or even 2026, ten years from now.
Is coal going to remain as a consistent fuel source? Is it going to be slowly but assuredly phased out? What is the future of our local mining industry? What about power generating stations, with or without carbon capture capabilities?
What is the future of our local oil industry? Can it make money with a price point of US$40 to US$45 shipped from here via pipelines or rail to …. a port? A refinery? What will the world want from us? Will they ask for medium and light crude oil or will heavy oil rule the roost again with efficiencies in place in northern Alberta, where tens of billions of dollars have already been invested in a sketchy future?
What will our farm and ranch community be doing?
A local sustainability group could have a mandate to supply some of the answers.
If we don’t pursue these questions, Estevan may be doomed for failure, since we will be sending a message that we really don’t care what happens.
A sustainability committee can send out a clear signal that we do care and that Estevan intends to be a leader on the energy and business front, not a follower, and here is our plan.
