This year, the Energy Council’s 2014 State and Provincial Trends in Energy and the Environment Conference was held in Regina, Saskatchewan June 19th – 22nd. The day before the conference began, myself and other attendees had the opportunity to visit the SaskPower Boundary Dam. Located on the Souris River near the border of Saskatchewan and North Dakota, the dam is currently undergoing a retrofit to add a $1.4 billion carbon capture facility. When completed, this will be the world’s first full-scale carbon capture project from a coal (lignite) electric generation facility.
Senator Stedman and other Energy Council conferees tour the SaskPower Boundary Dam
On the opening day of the conference, we were welcomed by Regina Mayor Michael Fougere with a full day of presentations to follow. Topics discussed include an update on carbon capture technology, state sovereignty and federal rulemaking in the U.S., the future of nuclear power, North American liquefied natural gas use, and cybersecurity. Later in the day, conferees were welcomed at the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly by Speaker Dan D’Autremont. The second day of the conference opened with a panel discussion of North American crude oil transmission patterns. Subsequent presentations covered the topics of North American grid reliability, Mexican oil and gas investment regulations, and renewable energy standards. The final day was comprised of administrative meetings of the Energy Council and the Center for Legislative Energy and Environmental Research. As always, I found the presentations well balanced and extremely informative. Thanks to the Energy Council Executive Director, Ms. Lori Cameron and her staff for organizing another productive conference.
Senator Stedman and other panelists attending the Energy Council meeting
Comments are closed