Dave Sullivan
Northern News Services

Hay River (Feb 25/02) - Dealing with energy issues in the 21st century could involve a combination of new laws in addition to financial incentives for those trying new things, says Dennis Bevington.

Hired last August by NWT's cabinet to work out a Northern energy strategy, Bevington says emphasis should be placed on new technology and conservation measures. He wants Northerners to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere from diesel power generating plants.

"We're the largest per capita carbon dioxide emitters but also the most impacted by global warming," he said in an interview. If Northerners care about climate change, he said, we have an ethical responsibility to do our part.

But, says Bevington, "we've heard time and time again in the communities that there has to be an incentive."

Financial incentives could be made available by diverting some of the $28 million a year the territorial government spends to subsidize utility rates, he said.

Bevington, co-owner of an alternative energy company, a former Fort Smith mayor and federal NDP election candidate, recently briefed Hay River's town council on his new job as energy secretariat.

He told council the Kyoto Protocol, a global treaty to reduce Earth-warming gases, will put even more pressure on the North to develop cleaner-burning natural gas. The accord could be signed by Canada within a few months.

At the same time, he added, "there's no doubt the frontier's energy resources are going to be developed."

He draws links between fossil fuels and health, and points out that pollution-cutting catalytic converters in cars don't work when temperatures dip below -20 C.

In winter, "We're breathing the same old air we did 20 years ago."

There's some good news about energy prices -- they're so high in the North, alternatives can take root and if they work here if they can work anywhere, Bevington said.

With energy such a high priority for the U.S. government, an energy strategy here makes sense, Bevington told council.

The Yukon recently developed one, and Nunavut is looking into it, he said.

Energy concerns are minimal in the South Slave, he told council, because the region gets its power from cheap, clean hydro dams.

But some Hay River officials are worried there may not be enough cheap energy left if a revived Pine Point mine tapped into the hydro.