October 24, 2012
WEDNESDAY
Supporting Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Local Family Earns National Award
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Issue 25
Bruins Earn Three of Four Points
Decision Day
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Local voters heading to the polls Decisions, decisions, decisions. Estevan residents will have all kinds of decisions to make today as they head to the polls to cast two ballots in the civic election and one in the plebiscite at the various stations throughout the city. (See accompanying story on voting information.) For the first time since 2005, the local electorate will have the opportunity to vote for a mayor as three candidates are vying to replace Gary St. Onge, who announced earlier this year that he would not be seeking another term in office. Local businessman Jim Halladay, who has no previous council experience but is a former member of the Estevan Police Service, joins current Councillors Lynn Chipley and Roy Ludwig on the ballot. Chipley has been very vocal about her desire to bring change to Estevan,
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Health Minister Speaks In Estevan
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Lynn Chipley
Jim Halladay
Roy Ludwig
pushing an agenda of a safe, connected city where people look to put down roots and not just use as a stopover on the way to their next destination. “What we do now and what we do over the next five years is absolutely going to decide where we are in five to 10 years because if all of those people, once this little boom is over, pack up their bags and go back to the Maritimes, back to Ontario and back to B.C. because we didn’t create the kind of environ-
ment that made them feel at home and want to call this home, then we have not done our job,� Chipley said while announcing her candidacy for mayor in September. “All we have done is put some money in a lot of people’s pockets, but we haven’t built our community and enriched our community and that is why I am running for mayor, because I really believe we need to do some serious planning with all of the stakeholders, the chamber, the arts
people, the sports people.� Ludwig is certainly the most experienced of the three candidates with 18 years as a member of council and having served on a number of committees and groups including the Spectra Place Construction Committee. Ludwig has said he would like to see the city continue its focus on infrastructure and pattern of growth but feels both must be done in a manner that does not create an excessive burden on the taxpay-
Show and tell time for SaskPower and the Boundary Dam project By Norm Park of The Mercury It was time for another show-and-tell experience on Oct. 17 for SaskPower and its internationally observed clean coal project at Boundary Dam. The $1.24 billion project that is around the halfway mark of the construction phase has caught the attention of global leaders in environmental protection and power production. It has also captured the attention and interest of local citizens who have generally supported it since its inception, so with that in mind, SaskPower staged an open house informational afternoon in the main auditorium at the Saskatchewan Energy Training Institute last Wednesday afternoon. “Our last official open
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Boundary Dam manager Mike Zeleny (left) with Douglas Nixon, project engineering lead and Doug Daverne, manager of the clean coal project. house was in 2010,� said Doug Daverne, project manager. He had also led recent presentations to the Estevan and District Chamber of Commerce executive as well as city council. “It’s on time and on budget,� the manager said, meaning that the September 2013 restart of Boundary
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of 2014, the capture plant should be ready for original testing, said Daverne. “So far there are no big concerns. We have decided to use a waste water disposal well system for this project which is the preferred environmental move,� he added. The success or failure
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Dam’s Unit No. 3, which is undergoing a complete refurbishment, is still the target for that part of the process. Integrating Unit 3 with the carbon dioxide (and other gases) capture stripper vessel will be scheduled after the restart has been completed and checked out. By March
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ers of Estevan. “We have been doing watermain and sewer replacements with the pavement for eight years now out of a 20-year program and we are making progress,� Ludwig said in a previous interview with The Mercury. “We are seven to 10 blocks and it is crucial that we continue down that path because unfortunately when I got on council, the thought was that you don’t raise taxes, you keep everything the same. “There has to be a balance because to do the needed repairs as far as infrastructure and moving the city forward and helping out with green spaces and parks, you have to raise taxes incrementally and you have to deal with the infrastructure.� Although he has no previous experience on council, Halladay has stated that his 40-plus years of operating M&H Taxi in the city would be a benefit to
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of the BD3 project will have huge implications for SaskPower and more likely the entire thermal powered electrical energy production industry around the globe. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not successful, then coal will have to be retired as a fuel source,â&#x20AC;? said Daverne, pointing out that under new environmental regulations, old-style coal power plants wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t qualify. SNC Lavalin, the lead construction contractor on site, has now been joined by several other major contractors such as Graham Construction and PCL as the clean coal component moves past the halfway mark. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There will be a lot more contractors on the scene next spring,â&#x20AC;? said Daverne. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We peaked at about 800 on-site workers this year on all â&#x2021;˘ Open A2
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