While Finance Minister Tom Osborne doesn’t like the fact that Muskrat Falls is costing the province so much, he said one advantage of it is that it has provided a corridor to carry electricity to the mainland.
He made the comment after being asked a question by Stephenville Mayor Tom Rose about the province diversifying, from a green carbon perspective, by getting into wind generation.
“I’m very familiar with wind generation and visited Germany when I was minister of Environment and Labour some years ago,” Osborne said following his address on the provincial budget to the Bay St. George Chamber of Commerce.
He said the problem with wind energy is that if you have, say, five days out of the year that you have no wind, it becomes a problem if you don’t have the steady source of energy and have to start purchasing it.
Osborne said the fact the province will be connected to a national grid, and energy during those down times could be provided by wind generation located elsewhere, could make wind energy lucrative.
Kippens Mayor Debbie Brake Patten asked Osborne if some help could be provided to their town in diversifying through residential development.
She said lots currently have to be 15,000 square feet, and the town wants to have smaller lot sizes for seniors and young families, but can’t because of the septic requirements, because the town doesn’t have a sewer treatment facility.
“We applied a number of times and were turned down, so now we want to go a different route. What can you do to help us with smaller-size lots?” Brake Patten asked the minister. “Help us and we’ll grow together.”
Osborne suggested her council contact Eddie Joyce, minister of Municipal of Municipal Affairs and Environment, whose department may know of new technologies to deal with septic systems.
“It’s worth pursuing if there are proven new technologies to deal with it,” he said.
Osborne said he’s sure the government would be open to the smaller lot sizes if the technology is there to do it for a subdivision.
