Project Seeks Provincial Cash to Truck Natural Gas to Wawa

SEATTLE (Oil Monster):  A plan to deliver natural gas by truck to communities on the north shore of Lake Superior has had its share of twists and turns over the last five years.

With a new gas supplier in place and a repackaged proposal now before the Ontario Energy Board, the communities of Terrace Bay, Schreiber, Marathon, Manitouwadge and Wawa are taking another crack at dipping into a provincial fund to finally bring an alternative fuel to their towns.

Under the banner of Lakeshore Natural Gas, the communities' proposed $55-million North Shore Gas Project aims to create a pipeline on wheels by trucking compressed natural gas (CNG) from a facility at Red Rock to community depots for local distribution to an estimated 13,000 customers.  

Calgary-based Certarus signed on as their supplier of choice in April.

Waiting for the phone to ring from the province is Daryl Skworchinski, president of Lakeshore Natural Gas, a new five-community utility company, who calls this unique project "scalable" and "transformational" for towns in the region. They're looking for government funding support and the regulatory green light to begin construction planning and procurement. 

"We're positive the province is going to look on this as a very pragmatic solution for energy," he said. 

"There are a number of municipalities and First Nation communities that are never going to be pipeline communities. We think we have a solution that can be replicated."

The terrain along Lake Superior's north shore is too rugged, too hilly and too expensive to construct a natural gas pipeline. It's left homeowners and area businesses at the mercy of dealing with the wild price fluctuations that come with heating oil, propane and grid power.

"If you live in a community with natural gas, you don't really think about what you pay for it because it is so cost-competitive," said Skworchinski. "If you're paying hydro costs, fuel oil or propane costs in our communities, it's not uncommon to see a bill in the $3,000 to $4,000 range for a cold winter."

Skworchinski, who's also the Town of Marathon's CAO, is one of the visionaries behind this project, which would be the first of its kind in Ontario.

If everything falls right, the project could be rolled out across the region over a three-year period, starting in 2022.

Courtesy: www.sootoday.com