Carolyn Bennett, the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, along with MLTC Tribal Chief Richard Ben announced the beehive burner will soon be replaced with a new bioenergy centre. (Nikita Ganovicheff/meadowlakeNOW Staff)

By Nikita Ganovicheff

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The beehive will be gone and replaced with a new cleaner facility.

Carolyn Bennett, the minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, announced on May 22 the government will be investing $52.5 million to replace the beehive burner with a bioenergy centre at the NorSask mill.

The Meadow Lake Tribal Council Bioenergy Centre will be the first of its kind in Saskatchewan and is expected to create enough green energy to power 5,000 homes. The plant creates energy by using the same sawmill waste that is currently burned in the beehive burner.

The old beehive burner at NorSask will be replaced with a bioenergy centre. (Nikita Ganovicheff/meadowlakeNOW)

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“We think it’s going to be very positive for NorSask and it’s going to have a beneficial impact for the entire industry here in the north-west part of the province,” MLA Jeremy Harrison said.

Harrison said the bioenergy centre will be give Meadow Lake and Flying Dust a significant economic boost and will create new job opportunities. “It’ll mean 10 permanent long term jobs operating the facility and it’s going to provide additional security as far as power generation here in the northwest.”

Revenue made from the plant will also go towards supporting programs and services provided by the Meadow Lake Tribal Council.

“It’s huge for our people especially the revenue that will be generated from the power that’s sold to SaskPower,” Richard Ben, the MLTC Tribal Chief, said. “That’s going to take care of some programming and services we don’t get funded.”

Ben said some of the programs and services that aren’t currently funded are medication, housing and a supervisor position for the youth centre.

Ben is excited for the new opportunities which will come with the clean power.

“It’s going to open the doors for us to create more partnerships, not just with the province or the feds, but other communities such as the city of Meadow Lake and create those partnerships and relationships where all of us benefit as a whole.”

The project is expected to decrease greenhouse gas emissions by more than a million tonnes over 25 years. It will also improve air quality for residents by reducing smoke and other harmful matter in the air.

The MLTC are looking to break ground on construction of the new facility next month.

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nikita.ganovicheff@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @Nikitaganov