OpEd

Methane and Renewables

submitted by Steve Gabell

Many people will have recently experienced a nasty surprise thanks to their Enbridge bills for methane (aka “natural gas”) being significantly higher than in previous years. In some cases, bills have more than doubled. The war in Ukraine has had an effect on the cost of methane and other fossil fuels. While Russia’s invasion may not have been predictable, an extractive industry limited to a relatively small number of sites is always going to be vulnerable to external events disrupting supplies.

Yet rather than working to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, our Progressive Conservative provincial government is working to make us more dependent on them. In 2021, they announced an expansion of methane connections for a number of communities across the province where people are currently reliant on heating oil or propane, including parts of Merrickville. This expansion comes at an eye-watering financial cost - $2.46 million for 67 homes and businesses in Merrickville alone, or over $36,000 for each connection, not including costs property owners will incur with the need for new furnaces or ducting.

Doug Ford is also working to increase dependence on fossil fuels across the province for generating electricity. Not content with recklessly cancelling hundreds of renewable energy contracts and successful energy efficiency programs, he is planning on ramping up expensive and polluting methane power plants.

Even if we ignore the environmental impact of increasing methane use, it simply does not make sense from a financial perspective to invest in expensive